Charlie Condon

Charles William Condon

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 6", Weight 216 lb.
• School University of Georgia
• High School The Walker School

• Born April 14, 2003 in Atlanta, GA USA

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Biographical Information

Outfielder Charlie Condon of the University of Georgia won the 2024 Golden Spikes Award as the top college baseball player in the country that season, after he hit .433 in 60 games with 37 homers and 78 RBIs. He also won the Dick Howser Trophy that year as he led the nation in both batting average and homers. He received a lot of media coverage for his exploits that season, after he started off red hot by hitting three homers on February 29th and basically never cooled down after that, with seven multi-homer games by the end of April, and setting a new record for homers in a season since the adoption of new standards for aluminum bats. He was not coming out of nowhere, since as a redshirt freshman in 2023, he had hit .386 with 25 homers and 67 RBIs. Not surprisingly, he was always in the discussion about who would be selected first overall in the 2024 amateur draft; he ended up being the third pick, after Travis Bazzana, a finalist for the Golden Spikes Award and Chase Burns, considered the top pitcher in the draft, going to the Colorado Rockies. And while he was not the first overall pick, he was the first player born in the U.S. to be taken, given Bazzana was born in Australia and Burns in Italy.

For all this, Condon was not considered a prospect while in high school and made Georgia's team as a walk-on (which explains why he was a redshirt in his first season), proving that even in this day and age and in a baseball hotbed, there are obviously talented players who fall through the cracks. Part of this is because his junior high school season was cut short because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and part because he was quite skinny in those days, but it is still puzzling. The fact that he was an excellent student got him into Georgia, and the rest was due to his persistence, as he was completely unknown to the coaching staff when he tried out for the baseball team.

The Rockies assigned him to their High-A affiliate, the Spokane Indians of the Northwest League and he first saw action on August 6th. In his second game, on August 7th, on the road against the Tri-City Dust Devils, he collected his first four professional hits, including a double and a home run. He went 4-for-5 with an RBI, a stolen base, and 8 total bases. Unfortunately, those were among very few highlights in his first month. Initially placed third in Spokane's batting order, he was moved to the #5 slot after a few weeks and slashed just .180/.248/.270 while splitting time between left field, third base, and designated hitter. He developed a propensity for being hit by pitches, getting plunked 5 times in 109 plate appearances. Unfortunately, he also displayed a proclivity to strike out, doing so in 34% of his at bats (34 Ks in 100 at bats) while being fed a steady diet of breaking balls. He also struggled through much of the Northwest League Championship Series, going hitless in the first three games, but with an RBI from a sacrifice fly. In Game 4, he broke out going 2-for-3 with an intentional walk (which loaded the bases in the bottom of the 9th) and driving in Spokane's first run in the 4th inning on a smoked single to center field.

Further Reading

• Anthony Castrovince: "From biggest whiff to can’t miss: How Condon became a No. 3 pick", mlb.com, July 14, 2024. [1]
• Brendan Samson: "No. 4 Draft prospect slugs a hat trick of homers for Georgia", mlb.com, February 29, 2024. [2]
• Kenny Van Doren: "Top Draft prospect ties single-season homer record in BBCOR era", mlb.com, May 5, 2024. [3]
• Ben Weinrib: "Draft prospect Condon delivers 7th multihomer game of '24, extends NCAA lead", mlb.com, April 21, 2024. [4]

Related Sites

• University of Georgia bio