Louisville two-way star Brendan McKay wins Golden Spikes Award

Louisville’s Brendan McKay won USA Baseball’s Golden Spikes Award on Thursday as the top amateur baseball player.

The first Louisville player and fifth Atlantic Coast Conference player to win the award, McKay starred for the Cardinals as both a pitcher and hitter.

As a pitcher this year, he was 8-3 with a 2.22 ERA and 116 strikeouts in 85 innings. During his three-year college career, he was 32-10 with a 2.23 ERA and 391 strikeouts, the most ever for a Louisville pitcher.

At the plate this season, he had a .341 batting average, 18 home runs, 15 doubles, 51 RBIs and a .457 on-base percentage. In 182 career starts and 189 total appearances as a hitter, McKay had a .328 career batting average with 28 home runs, 48 doubles and 132 RBIs.

McKay was drafted fourth overall by Tampa Bay and agreed to a $7,005,000 signing bonus.