May 6, 2003
Durham, N.C. - Stanford junior outfielder Carlos Quentin (Chula Vista, CA/University of San Diego HS) has been named one of five finalists for the prestigious 2003 Golden Spikes Award given annually to amateur baseball's top player by USA Baseball in partnership with the Major League Baseball Players Association. This year's winner will be announced on various regional cable networks on Tuesday, July 15, during the broadcast of the 26th Annual Golden Spikes Award Show, the same day as the 2003 Major League Baseball All-Star Game.
The other five finalists announced Tuesday were Michael Aubrey (Tulane, Jr., INF), Kyle Sleeth (Wake Forest, Jr., RHP), Tim Stauffer (Richmond, Jr., RHP) and Rickie Weeks (Southern, Jr., INF/OF).
Quentin becomes the 10th Stanford finalist in the 26-year history of the award, tied with Miami for the most by any school. Quentin is also Stanford's second finalist in as many years. Jeremy Guthrie, drafted in the first round of the 2002 MLB First-Year Player Draft, was one of five finalists for the 2002 award.
Quentin is continuing his run at Stanford's single-season batting average record and ranks second in the Pac-10 with a .415 average that is just .015 percentage points off the school record set by Tom Williams in 1972. Quentin is also attempting to become the first Stanford player to hit .400 since David McCarty hit .420 in 1991. In addition, Quentin leads the Cardinal in hits (73, #4-T Pac-10), runs scored (51, #7T Pac-10), doubles (22, #2 Pac-10), walks (30, #6 Pac-10), hit-by-pitches (9, #8T Pac-10), extra-base hits (29, co-leader with Ryan Garko) and on-base percentage (.516, #3 Pac-10). His 22 doubles already rank tied for fourth on Stanford's all-time single-season list and he is seven away from the school record of 29 set by Troy Paulsen in 1990. Quentin also co-leads the team along with Garko in multiple-hit games (21) and extra-base hits (29), while co-leading the team in runs with Sam Fuld (51). Quentin has added nine stolen bases, 115 total bases six homers and 36 RBI.
Quentin has hit safely in 31 of his last 33 games (2/22 Game 1 - 5/4), going 61-for-134 (.455) with 20 doubles, one triple, six homers, 33 RBI and seven stolen bases during the stretch. He posted a two-month career-high 26-game hit streak (2/22 Game 1 - 4/22, .495, 51-103, 18 2B, 1 3B, 5 HR, 30 RBI, 7 SB).
Quentin has a career .348 batting average, just .001 percentage point from inclusion in Stanford's all-time top 10 list. Quentin also has 29 homers, 142 RBI and 25 stolen bases in less than three seasons on The Farm.
A complete press release about the 2003 Golden Spikes Award finalists can be accessed at USA Baseball.
Stanford (31-14, 13-5 Pac-10) currently leads the Pac-10 standings by one and a half games over Arizona State (43-9, 10-5 Pac-10) and two games over Arizona (33-17, 11-7 Pac-10). The Cardinal continues a season-long seven-game road trip with a non-conference contest at San Jose State (22-25) this Tuesday, May 6 (7:00 pm), before concluding the stretch with a three-game conference series at California (26-24, 10-11 Pac-10) this Friday-Sunday, May 9-11 (2:30 pm, 1 pm, 1 pm). Stanford has won a season-best 10 straight road games.