Golden Spikes Debate: Jac Caglianone vs Charlie Condon
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — I don’t envy the men and women who vote for the Golden Spikes Award. Each year the award goes to the best amateur college baseball player in the country. This year, there are a number of qualified players, including Florida’s Jac Caglianone and Georgia’s Charlie Condon, who will share a field starting Thursday, May 16 in Athens, Georgia.
There are others having tremendous seasons. Arkansas lefty Hagen Smith has a better ERA against SEC competition than the 2024 MLB Draft first overall pick and former LSU ace, Paul Skenes did at this point of the season. Joshua Kuroda-Grauer of Rutgers leads the country with 90 hits in 208 at-bats and Oregon State’s Travis Bazzana is hitting .424 with 26 home runs and will be a top-five draft pick. There are plenty of options but the conversation always comes back to the two behemoths in the SEC.
By definition, the award goes to the “most impressive amateur college baseball player.” It’s not the most valuable. If it were, it would be hard to argue against Caglianone being more valuable to a Florida team that has struggled even with Caglianone’s historic numbers. What would Florida’s 2024 season look like if you took Caglianone out of the equation?
On the other hand, Condon is putting up video game numbers with the difficulty set so a child would have fun playing the game. The Georgia slugger broke Caglianone’s single-season BBCOR-era home run record this season in 23 less games. Condon hit his 34th home run in Georgia’s 48th game of the season. Caglianone hit 33 home runs in 71 games during the 2023 season.
Let’s take a look at how the two stack up statistically at the plate.
Jac Caglianone vs Charlie Condon by the numbers
| Stat (Bold denotes leader in the category) | Jac Caglianone | Charlie Condon |
|---|---|---|
| Batting Average | .418 (2nd in SEC) | .454 (1st in SEC) |
| OPS | 1.391 | 1.649 |
| SLG | .862 (2nd in SEC) | 1.082 (1st in SEC) |
| On Base Percentage | .529 (3rd in SEC) | .567 (2nd in SEC) |
| Hits | 82 (2nd in SEC) | 88 (1st in SEC) |
| Runs | 62 (5th in SEC) | 75 (1st in SEC) |
| Doubles | 3 | 18 |
| Triples | 0 | 1 |
| Home Runs | 28 (2nd in SEC) | 34 (1st in SEC) |
| RBI | 55 (11th in SEC) | 72 (2nd in SEC) |
| Total Bases | 169 (2nd in SEC) | 210 (1st in SEC) |
| Walks (intentional walks) | 38 (18 IBB) | 46 (22 IBB) |
| HBP | 8 | 10 |
| Strikeouts | 18 | 37 |
Caglianone is having one of the best seasons ever at the University of Florida at the plate. After homering in an NCAA-record nine-straight games from April 6-19, Caglianone followed the act with an equally brilliant one by going 66 consecutive plate appearances without a strikeout from April 7-27. At present, the slugger ranks as the 36th most difficult hitter to strike out in the country with 10.9 at-bats per strikeout. Caglianone’s unparalleled power-contact combination has fueled him to an 18-to-38 strikeout-to-walk ratio, 7.4% strikeout rate, and 28 home runs on the season, the latter of which is tied for second nationally.
Caglianone paces the Gators in virtually every offensive statistic including batting average (.418), on-base percentage (.529), slugging (.862), OPS (1.391), hits (82), homers, RBI (55), runs (62), and walks (38). The two-way standout ranks second in the SEC in hits, homers, total bases (169), batting average (seventh in NCAA), and slugging (fifth), third in OBP (10th), fifth in runs scored and t-11th in RBI.
Condon currently leads the country in batting (.454), home runs (34), slugging percentage (1.082) and total bases (210). He’s third in the country in on-base percentage (.567) and hits (88). By all accounts, Condon is having one of the most prolific offensive seasons in college baseball history and began his career as a walk-on at Georgia in 2022.
Condon is slashing. 454/.567/1.082 with 34 home runs. No one has led the nation in batting and home runs since 2009. He has a chance to win the college triple crown, a feat that hasn’t been accomplished since 1992 (Mike Smith, Indiana).
Condon has been vital to Georgia’s offensive output, as has Caglianone to Florida’s. There is a major difference between the two.
The X-Factor: Pitching
| Stat (Bold denotes leader in the category) | Jac Caglianone | Charlie Condon |
|---|---|---|
| Wins | 5 | Charlie Condon doesn’t pitch |
| Losses | 1 | Charlie Condon doesn’t pitch |
| ERA | 4.39 | Charlie Condon doesn’t pitch |
| Innings Pitched | 53.1 | Charlie Condon doesn’t pitch |
| Hits Allowed | 44 | Charlie Condon doesn’t pitch |
| Runs Allowed | 29 | Charlie Condon doesn’t pitch |
| Earned Runs | 26 | Charlie Condon doesn’t pitch |
| HR Allowed | 4 | Charlie Condon doesn’t pitch |
| Walks issued | 37 | Charlie Condon doesn’t pitch |
| Strikeouts | 63 | Charlie Condon doesn’t pitch |
| WHIP (walks+hits per innings pitched) | 1.519 | Charlie Condon doesn’t pitch |
| H/9 | 7.4 | Charlie Condon doesn’t pitch |
| BB/9 | 6.2 | Charlie Condon doesn’t pitch |
| K/9 | 10.6 | Charlie Condon doesn’t pitch |
| K/BB | 1.70 | Charlie Condon doesn’t pitch |
Heading into the 2022 season I dubbed Caglianone “Jactani” after the then Los Angeles Angels and now Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani. Having players who pitch and hit isn’t that uncommon in baseball but to do it at the Division I level, let alone in the SEC is far more rare. And to do it at the level at which Caglianone is doing this season is nearly unheard of.
“We call him ‘create-a-player,'” Florida Gators manager Kevin O’Sullivan said after a recent game. “If you were to create a player on the computer, this is what they would look like.”
This season Caglianone ranks 10th in the SEC in ERA (4.07), seventh in opposing batting average (.214), 14th in innings pitches (59.2) and earned runs (27), and third in fewest home runs allowed (4).
And his offense hasn’t dropped off in games when he’s also been on the mound.
In the 12 games Caglianone has started on the mound, he is hitting .431 (19-for-44). He has seven home runs in those 44 at-bats while surrendering only four to the opposing 240 batters he has faced. 63 of those batters have struck out while Caglianone has only two strikeouts in the games he has pitched. Florida has won in nine of Caglianone’s 12 starts this season.
As the table above clearly states, Charlie Condon doesn’t pitch. Caglianone has been able to lead the Gators both with his bat and on the mound.
The two are putting up historic numbers both for their programs and in terms of the history of college baseball. There is one separating factor that the Golden Spikes Committee voters will have to take into account and it’s that while Condon’s numbers are hard to fathom, Caglianone’s offensive numbers are right there and he’s turned into one of the best pitchers in the best conference in the country.
