NEW YORK -- Robin Ventura, who hit .428 in three seasons at Oklahoma State after being ignored by scouts in high school, Tuesday won the Golden Spikes Award as the nation's top amateur baseball player.
Ventura, a three-time All-America and member of the gold-medal U.S. Olympic team, was selected from a field of nine finalists by the U.S. Baseball Federation, the national governing body of amateur baseball. Among the finalists was last year's winner, Jim Abbott, the one-handed pitcher from the University of Michigan.
Ventura, 21, of Santa Maria, Calif., hit in an NCAA-record 58 consecutive games in 1987. He hit 26 home runs last season and batted .409 during the Seoul Olympics. At the World Championships in Italy, he drove in 32 runs in 13 games.
The left-handed hitting third baseman was drafted in the first round by the Chicago White Sox, selected 10th overall, and signed 10 days ago. Many top prospects are drafted straight out of high school.
'In high school, I was a decent player, not great, but it's not an area heavily visited by scouts,' Ventura said in the ceremony at the Downtown Athletic Club in Manhattan.
Ventura hit .469 in his first year at Oklahoma State, earning Freshman of the Year honors from the magazine Baseball America.
'I played basketball in high school; I was always splitting my time,' he said. 'I just focused on the one thing (in college). When it's snowing out, you can't go field ground balls, so I just hit.'
Ventura and Abbott were joined by six other finalists who played on the Olympic team: pitcher Andy Benes of Evansville, second baseman Ty Griffin of Georgia Tech, first baseman Tino Martinez of the University of Tampa, third baseman Ed Sprague of Stanford and outfielders Ted Wood of New Orleans and Mike Fiore of Miami. Greg Olson, the former Auburn pitcher who began his professional career with Baltimore this summer, was the only non-Olympian to be a finalist.
The Golden Spikes voting by the 60-member committee was conducted before the Olympics.
Ventura is second only to the Texas Rangers' Pete Incaviglia in home runs (68) and RBI (302) at Oklahoma State.
'I never thought I'd say it twice in the same decade,' said Oklahoma State Coach Gary Ward, 'but I honestly believe Robin can jump straight to the majors, just like Pete did.'
Ventura tried to avoid comparisons to Incaviglia and Hall of Famer Joe DiMaggio, who in 1941 set a major-league record by hitting in 56 consecutive games.
'There's a big difference between college and the major leagues,' Ventura said. 'There's no way I can compare what I did to his (DiMaggio's) streak.'
Said DiMaggio, who attended Tuesday's ceremony: 'If you're going to do this, don't do it next year. I want my streak to last 50 years.'
Benes and Abbott said they faced Ventura only once, in Olympic scrimmages. Abbott struck out Ventura. Benes, the No. 1 overall draft choice by the San Diego Padres, said: 'I jammed him and he hit it over the shortstop's head for a single. I told him I'd walk him If I faced him in the majors.'
