Georgia’s Daniel Jackson wins 2026 Golden Spikes Award over ASU’s Landon Hairston

Georgia standout catcher Daniel Jackson won the 2026 Golden Spikes Award, MLB Network announced Monday.

Jackson won the award over ASU’s Landon Hairston and UCLA’s Roch Cholowsky, who is a Chandler native.

Georgia’s backstop finished the season batting .354 with a .455 on-base percentage, .739 slugging and 1.194 OPS. Jackson had 32 home runs and 87 RBIs on the year.

While Hairston didn’t win the Golden Spikes Award, his 2026 season will be remembered for years to come in Tempe.

The Sun Devils star was named the Big 12 Player of the Year, Baseball America’s College Player of the Year and set ASU’s single-season home run record with 28 long balls on the year.

The sophomore finished the season with an NCAA-leading 1.366 OPS and .860 slugging percentage. Hairston ranked top 20 in the country in batting average (.400) and on-base percentage (.509).

He helped lead the Sun Devils to a third-place finish in the Big 12 standings, the Big 12 Tournament semifinals and their second straight NCAA Tournament appearance.

Because he is a sophomore, Hairston must play another year of college ball before he’s eligible for the MLB Draft in 2027. ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel views Hairston as a potential top-15 pick in the 2027 class.

The Sun Devils standout announced earlier this month that he will return to Tempe for his junior year.

Arizona Sports’ Damon Allred contributed to this story.

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