ASU’s Landon Hairston a top contender for Golden Spikes Award
TEMPE – When Landon Hairston launched a towering grand slam against West Virginia at Phoenix Municipal Stadium, Braiden Bell put the moment in perspective on the ESPN+ broadcast.
“We are all witnesses,” Bell said about the hit that was part of a 3-for-4 performance with eight RBIs and two home runs in the March ASU win.
ASU faithful have been witness to a special performance from Hairston. With three games remaining in the regular season before the Big 12 Tournament begins, Hairston is third in the nation in batting average (.426), fourth in home runs (25), second in RBIs (74), second in hits (81), second in runs (70) and sixth in on-base percentage (.532) in the Division I collegiate ranks.
And this is despite a rare and recent slump, which he appears to be snapping out of at just the right time. His last home run was almost three weeks ago. On Sunday, he went 2 for 4 with three runs scored in ASU’s big win over Oklahoma State, after batting .266 in the previous eight games.
Elite hitters are a constant threat to deal damage in baseball, but amid Hairston’s torrid 2026 campaign, that threat doesn’t just seem possible, it feels inevitable.
“I don’t think people realize what he’s doing right now,” ASU coach Willie Bloomquist said. “You don’t see this in baseball very often. … Not that I’ve been around this game forever, but I’ve never personally seen something like this.”
Hairston exited that three-game series against West Virginia with four home runs, 11 RBIs, six runs and a stolen base while reaching base 11 times. The performance earned him USA Baseball Golden Spikes Player of the Week, but Hairston may be in line for the Golden Spikes Award – presented annually to the top amateur baseball player in the country – if he sustains this level of play through the postseason.
“Landon Hairston is putting together one of the best offensive seasons we’ve seen in years and he’s not even draft eligible yet,” Baseball America noted in late April. “A rare combination of power and contact and a season that’s starting to look historic.”
Hairston’s performance even has Sun Devils coaches evoking legends of the past
“(Hitting coach) Jason Ellison played with Barry Bonds, and he was like, ‘Dude, I haven’t seen anything like this, other than Bonds,’” Bloomquist said. “He’s just in one of those zones that doesn’t come around very often.”
This zone hasn’t gone away.
Hairston is two homers away from tying, and three away from breaking ASU’s single-season home run record of 27 set by Mitch Jones in 2000. He already tied the ASU single-season record for grand slams with four after the slam against West Virginia.
In a season as historic as Hairston’s, it feels appropriate not to compare him to his contemporaries, but to past winners of the Golden Spikes Award.
Comparing Hairston to the 12 hitters that have won the Golden Spikes Award since the start of the Batted Ball Coefficient of Restitution era of bats in 2011, his statistical profile looks strong.
Hairston’s current stats would place him third in batting average, sixth in on-base percentage, second in slugging percentage, second in on base plus slugging percentage, fourth in home runs, third in runs batted in and sixth in runs scored.
He is in the top half of every statistic. Hairston’s statistics are only outdone by Charlie Condon’s 2024 season.
This means that Hairston is not just having an impressive season, or a season worthy of the Golden Spikes Award. You can make an argument that he is having the second best offensive season the sport has seen in the BBCOR era.
Sun Devils fans should have plenty more opportunities to bear witness to Hairston’s brilliance this season and beyond. He is not draft eligible until 2027, and Bloomquist is thankful for it.
“There are some great players out there,” Bloomquist said. “I definitely have not seen a better hitter than him.”
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