LSU’s Dylan Crews Wins 2023 Golden Spikes Award

Crews caps his outstanding college career with the sport’s highest individual honor.

All year long, LSU center fielder Dylan Crews has dominated opposing pitchers en route to leading the Tigers to the College World Series. Now, he’s got some impressive hardware to commemorate his special season.

Crews won the Golden Spikes Award on Sunday ahead of Game 2 of the championship series, capping off an incredible junior campaign. He beat out Florida’s Jac Caglianone and LSU teammate Paul Skenes for the top honor. He’s the second player in school history to win the award, following Ben McDonald in 1989.

Crews has put up an impressive stat line this season on his way to winning the award. Through 69 games entering Sunday, he hit .418/.562/.707 with 18 home runs and 69 RBIs. He scored a whopping 95 runs and reached base at least once in every game he played.

“Dylan Crews has been one of the nation’s best college baseball players since he arrived at LSU in 2021,” USA Baseball executive director and CEO Paul Seiler said. “His extraordinary 2023 season, in addition to his generous charitable work off the baseball field, make him an extremely worthy winner of this award. We are so proud to welcome Dylan into the Golden Spikes Award brotherhood and celebrate all of his achievements this season.”

Crews is widely expected to be a top-five pick—possibly No. 1—in this year’s MLB draft, which is scheduled to begin on July 9. The Pirates hold the top pick for the second time in the past three years.