Dylan Carey Named Finalist for Nation's Top Shortstop Honor

The senior becomes the second Husker in history to become a finalist for the Brooks Wallace Award.

Nebraska's Dylan Carey is one of five finalists for the nation's top shortstop. | Amarillo Mullen

Dylan Carey has now joined a shortlist of shortstops in Nebraska baseball's history.

The senior was named a finalist for the 2026 Brooks Wallace Award on Tuesday, becoming the second Husker in program history to be named a finalist for the award. Carey becomes one of five finalists for the honor, given to the nation's top shortstop. The award is presented by the College Baseball Foundation and is named after former Texas Tech shortstop Brooks Wallace.

Carey joins an esteemed list of college baseball's finest from the 2026 campaign. The other finalists for the Brooks Wallace Award include UCLA's Roch Cholowsky, Georgia Tech's Carson Kerce, California Baptist's Chris Ramirez, and North Carolina's Jake Schaffner. Carey and Cholowsky are the lone Big Ten Conference representatives for the honor, as the finalists were identified based on their combined offensive and defensive performances.

Dylan Carey was a preseason Brooks Wallace watchlist honoree in 2025 and 2026, and becomes a finalist for the honor after his senior season. | Amarillo Mullen

Carey has been an elite defender for Nebraska over his four years in Lincoln, beginning in 2023, making 53 starts after being named a top recruit in Colorado by Prep Baseball Report. In his first season, Carey hit .275, tallying nine doubles, two triples, and four home runs along with 30 RBI and scoring 33 runs. His freshman season included a .349 on-base percentage while recording 18 multi-hit performances with a trio of three-hit games and one four-hit contest.

As a sophomore in 2024, Carey would start 61 games and would become an integral part of the Huskers' first Big Ten Tournament title team. Carey's batting numbers slightly dipped, hitting .255, but he would lead the team with 18 doubles, seven home runs, 31 RBI, and 30 runs scored while finishing second on the team with 17 multi-hit contests.

Carey's name became more recognizable nationally heading into his junior season, as he was named to the 2025 Brooks Wallace Award watchlist. The shortstop would start all 62 games for NU in 2025, batting .288 with a team-high 20 doubles and eight home runs and finished the year tied for fifth all-time in Nebraska history with 47 career doubles.

Dylan Carey points to the dugout after a single to score Sanderson. | Amarillo Mullen

Carey's best work came in his senior season this past year, earning Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and first-team All-Big Ten honors while turning in a .353 batting average with 16 doubles, two triples, 15 home runs, 65 RBI, and 53 runs scored. The shortstop became the program's all-time leader in career doubles while also becoming Nebraska's ninth player to reach 200 career hits, 150 runs scored, and 150 RBI. Carey passed his coach, Will Bolt, on the career doubles mark to earn the top spot on Nebraska's all-time leaderboard.

The shortstop was elite in the field as well, committing only four errors on 216 chances for a .981 fielding percentage while turning 29 double plays as a senior. His elite play pushed Nebraska to a top 25 ranking and a 43-17 overall record while finishing 23-7 in Big Ten Conference play. The Huskers were selected as a home site for postseason regionals, as Nebraska fell in its final two contests, 6-3 and 11-8 to Ole Miss and Arizona State, respectively, to finish its season.

"I can't really put into words the memories and the time and the opportunities that we've been given as baseball players to play this game," Carey said in his postgame comments following the Arizona State loss on Sunday.

Nebraska shortstop Dylan Carey was named a finalist for the 2026 Brooks Wallace Award on Tuesday. | Nebraska Athletics

"I just, I'm proud of him... he's such a good baseball player. We are so unbelievably fortunate to have him back as a senior this year, but more than that, what he's brought to our organization just as a young man and a leader now as a senior," Bolt said after Carey surpassed the coach on the all-time doubles list on March 29. "I'm very, very proud of him, very, very happy for him."

Carey went undrafted in the 2025 MLB Draft, but is projected by BaseballAmerica to potentially have lifted his ceiling to an early-to-mid day two or day three draft prospect following his stellar senior season.

“I want to prove everyone wrong,” Carey told Hurrdat Sports in January. “With the draft not happening, I want to show that I do have the abilities to play at the next level, and to help lead this team, because I have not done that in years past. I need to be better at that, so I’m just excited for another opportunity to do that, and I will do that.”

The 2026 Brooks Wallace Award winner will be announced on Saturday, June 13.