Arkansas pitcher Gabe Gaeckle and catcher Ryder Helfrick have been named to the preseason watch list for the Golden Spikes Award, presented annually to the best amateur baseball player in the nation.
The preseason watch list includes 55 players across high school and college baseball based on their body of work from the previous year. The Golden Spikes Advisory Board will maintain the award’s watch list on a rolling basis, allowing athletes to play themselves into consideration for the award based on in-season performance.
Helfrick enters the year with preseason All-America praise from Baseball America, D1Baseball and NCBWA, preseason All-SEC honors from the league’s 16 head coaches and preseason watch list consideration for Baseball America’s player of the year award and the Buster Posey National Collegiate Catcher of the Year Award. The Discovery Bay, Calif., native played in 61 games with 56 starts as a sophomore last season, slashing .305/.420/.616 with 15 home runs and 38 RBI.
The Razorbacks’ star catcher, who recorded 14 multi-hit games and 11 multi-RBI games in 2025, was even better in SEC play, slashing .337/.449/.635 with seven home runs and 21 RBI in 30 games against conference opponents. Defensively, Helfrick was one of the best behind the dish in all of college baseball last year, committing only three errors in 629 total chances (.995 fielding percentage) and throwing out 10-of-45 attempted base stealers (.222 caught stealing percentage).
Gaeckle, who was also named to last year’s preseason watch list for the Golden Spikes Award, enters the 2026 campaign with preseason All-America honors from Baseball and Perfect Game, preseason All-SEC praise from the league’s 16 head coaches and preseason watch list consideration for Baseball America’s pitcher of the year award.
The Aptos, Calif., native made 19 appearances with nine starts on the mound as a sophomore last season, posting a 4-2 record with a 4.42 ERA and two saves in 71.1 innings of work. Gaeckle racked up 92 strikeouts while limiting opposing hitters to a .235 batting average during the 2025 campaign, turning in his best outing of the year at the College World Series with a career-high 10 strikeouts over six innings of one-run ball in relief against LSU.
Helfrick is the 17th Razorback player since 2008 to earn a spot on the Golden Spikes Award’s preseason watch list. Three Hogs, including outfielder Andrew Benintendi (2015), pitcher Kevin Kopps (2021) and infielder Wehiwa Aloy (2025), have won the Golden Spikes Award, making Arkansas (3) one of six schools, along with Florida State (4), Arizona State (3), Cal State Fullerton (3), LSU (2) and San Diego State (2), in college baseball history with multiple award winners.
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