CARY, N.C. – USA Baseball announced the 2023 Golden Spikes Award Midseason Watch List Wednesday afternoon and Ole Miss’ Jacob Gonzalez became the first Rebel to make the list since 2014.

Gonzalez joins former Rebels Chris Ellis, Bobby Wahl, Stuart Turner, and Alex Yarbrough as the only representatives from Ole Miss to make the Midseason Watch List. Ellis was the last to do it during the 2014 season.

The junior has started all 28 games at shortstop this season, batting .346 (36-for-104) with 27 RBI and 29 runs scored. He leads the team in doubles (11) and walks (24) and is tied for the team lead in on-base percentage (Ethan Groff, .485).

Gonzalez has five doubles, nine RBI, and is slugging .618 through the team’s first nine SEC games. He is hitting .571 (16-for-28) with two outs and .313 (10-for-32) with runners in scoring position.

Before the 2023 season started, Gonzalez became the first Rebel since 2008 to make the Preseason Watch List twice, having also been named to the list prior to last season. He is also one of just two Rebel position players to make the list during that time with the other being Hayden Dunhurst in 2022.

Thirty-three schools and 13 conferences are represented on the 2023 midseason list. The SEC leads all conferences with 16 representatives, followed by the ACC with seven and the Pac-12 with four.

Keep up with all the latest news and information on the Rebels by following Ole Miss Baseball on Twitter at @OleMissBSB, on Facebook at Facebook.com/OleMissBaseball, and on Instagram at Instagram.com/officialolemissbsb. Also, follow head coach Mike Bianco on Twitter at @CoachMikeBianco.

About Golden Spikes Award
Since 1978, USA Baseball has honored the top amateur baseball player in the country with the Golden Spikes Award. Following the first-ever presentation of the Award to Bob Horner of Arizona State, the Golden Spikes Award has been presented each year to the player who exhibits exceptional athletic ability and exemplary sportsmanship. The 2022 Golden Spikes Award winner was Ivan Melendez from the University of Texas. Past winners of this prestigious award include current Major League Baseball players such as Adley Rutschman (’19), Andrew Vaughn (’18), Brendan McKay (’17), Kyle Lewis (’16), Andrew Benintendi (’15), Kris Bryant (’13), Mike Zunino (’12), Bryce Harper (’10), and Stephen Strasburg (’09). Former Major League stars that have captured the award include Buster Posey (’08), David Price (’07), Tim Lincecum (’06), Alex Gordon (’05), Pat Burrell (’98), Mark Kotsay (’95), Robin Ventura (’88), Jim Abbott (’87), Will Clark (’85), Dave Magadan (’83), Terry Francona (’80), Tim Wallach (’79), and Horner (’78). For more information, please visit GoldenSpikesAward.com. Fans can follow the Golden Spikes Award on Twitter @USAGoldenSpikes.