Golden Spikes Award Odds: Florida’s Jac Caglianone the Favorite for College Baseball’s Top Honor
Jamie Schwaberow/NCAA Photos via Getty Images. Pictured: Florida’s Jac Caglianone.
Golden Spikes Award Odds
| Player | Odds |
|---|---|
| Jac Caglianone | +500 |
| Nick Kurtz | +600 |
| JJ Wetherholt | +700 |
| Travis Bazzana | +950 |
| Tommy White | +1400 |
| Charlie Condon | +1400 |
| Vance Honeycutt | +1600 |
| Malcolm Moore | +2000 |
| Mike Sirota | +2000 |
| Seaver King | +2000 |
| Braden Montgomery | +2100 |
| Josh Hartle | +2100 |
| Carson Benge | +2300 |
| Chase Burns | +2300 |
| Brody Brecht | +2500 |
| Thatcher Hurd | +3100 |
| Caleb Lomavita | +3400 |
| Hagen Smith | +3400 |
| Dakota Jordan | +3700 |
| Will Taylor | +5000 |
| Cam Smith | +5000 |
| Jacob Cozart | +5000 |
All odds via FanDuel as of Friday, Jan. 26.
Florida's Jac Caglianone enters the 2024 season as the favorite to win the Golden Spikes Award, given to the top college baseball player in the nation.
A two-way star for the Gators, Caglianone (+500) has been dubbed the "Shohei Ohtani of College Baseball."
"Jactani" didn't pitch his freshman season in Gainesville after recovering from Tommy John surgery, but he returned to the mound in 2023 and posted a 4.34 ERA and 1.42 WHIP to go along with 87 strikeouts and 55 walks.
Still, the sophomore was more impressive at the plate. Caglianone led the nation with 33 home runs in 2023 and ranked fourth nationally with 90 RBIs.
Considering his two-way ability and the fact he'll lead a Florida team that finished last season as the national runner-up and now has the third-shortest odds (+1000) to win it all in Omaha, it's easy to see why Caglianone sits atop the odds board entering the season.
Following Caglianone are two of the more impressive names on the board in Wake Forest's Nick Kurtz (+600) and West Virginia's JJ Wetherholt (+700).
Kurtz leads a Demon Deacons team that's the favorite to win the College World Series (+750). The Deacs' first baseman has slashed .345/.499/.708 in two seasons in Winston-Salem, adding 39 home runs and 125 RBIs to his resume.
Kurtz led the team with a .353 average last season and ranked second with 24 home runs and 69 RBIs to Brock Wilken. However, with Wilken now in the Milwaukee Brewers organization, Kurtz will be looked upon to lead the way for the Deacs in 2024.
While Kurtz's batting average was impressive, it still didn't hold a candle to Wetherholt, who led the nation with a mark of .449 last year.
Wetherholt did it all for the Mountaineers in 2023. In addition to his wildly impressive ability to make solid contact, the junior showed some power with 16 homers and 60 RBIs while proving to be a legitimate base-running threat with 36 steals.
The top prospect for the 2024 MLB Draft, MLB.com raved about Wetherholt's potential in their prospect breakdown:
"Wetherholt might be the best pure hitter in the class and there are some area scouts who think he’s the best amateur bat they’ve ever seen. The left-handed hitter drives the ball to all fields with authority with excellent pitch recognition and elite bat-to-ball skills that resulted in a miniscule 10 percent miss rate in 2023 with the Mountaineers."
Oregon State's Travis Bazzana remains the final player with Golden Spikes odds shorter than +1000.
Like Wetherholt, Bazzana impressed with his team-high .374 average and proved to be a game-changer on the basepaths with 36 stolen bases of his own on 39 attempts.
The top pure pitcher on the odds board entering the season is Wake Forest's Josh Hartle at +2100.
Hartle might've spent some time in the shadow of star Deacs pitcher Rhett Lowder last season despite ranking fifth in the nation with 140 strikeouts, but that's not the case anymore.
The improvement Hartle made from 2022 to 2023 was huge for a Wake Forest team that spent much of the season as the favorite to win the national title. After going 7-6 with a 5.30 ERA, 1.51 WHIP and 54 strikeouts as a freshman, Hartle went 11-2 with a 2.80 ERA, 1.12 WHIP and 140 Ks as a sophomore last season.
Action Network senior writer Collin Wilson ranked Wake Forest No. 1 in his initial college baseball power rankings and called Hartle an "auto-wager" in 2024, citing his impressive 12.3 K/9 rate.
If the Demon Deacons want to continue their reign as the favorite and make their way to Omaha, they'll need another big season from Hartle.
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