Charlie Condon bringing excitement to 'new era' of Georgia Baseball
ATHENS, Ga. — If you keep up with College Baseball at all – or even have just watched Georgia – you’re probably familiar with Charlie Condon. If you aren’t, you should get to know who the UGA star is because the Bulldogs have one of the best players in the entire country on their team.
After redshirting in 2022, Condon took the SEC by storm last season. He won the league’s freshman of the year award as he set a new mark for most home runs in a season by a freshman with 25. That was without but one postseason game – an SEC Tournament first round exit – for Georgia, and odds are, he would’ve done more damage.
Condon won the team’s Triple Crown, leading the Bulldogs in batting average (.386), RBI (67) and home runs. He took home National Freshman of the Year honors, was a semifinalist for the top awards given to amateur baseball players (Golden Spikes Award and Dick Howser Trophy) and finds himself in the mix for the same kind of recognition in 2024 as a preseason All-American.
Last season at LSU, Wes Johnson was forced to prepare to face him. Even with a National Championship winning team and a pitching staff that helped lead the charge, Johnson watched as Condon knocked one out at Foley Field – just as he did in every SEC series. This year, the new Georgia head coach is happy to see that ball fly high off Condon’s bat.
“I went on record last year, even before I had this job, coming into the Georgia series when I was at LSU, that he was the best right-handed hitter I had seen all year behind Dylan Crews. Of course I saw Dylan every day last year, and I still believe that now. I believe that he (Condon) is the best right-handed hitter in College Baseball, and I think all we’ve been able to do is show his flexibility and what kind of athlete he really is,” Johnson said of his star.
“He’s special. As a coach, to get a guy like Charlie, you hope to be able to get one every seven to 10 years. He’s special. He’s a top of the top first round guy, and you’ve got to be really good to do that.”
Not only is Condon a great player, according to Johnson, he’s also a great teammate. Condon raises the bar for what is expected of the Bulldogs – both in the eyes of the media making projections on their potential and in the effort of the players themselves.
“It’s the old saying, it’s always awesome when your best player is also a great guy and people like him and gravitate towards him,” Johnson added to his earlier comments on Condon. “He raises everybody’s game. Everybody looks at him, and you almost get the sense that guys are working and doing things because they don’t want to let Charlie down. They know how hard he’s working and what he’s got on the line, and they don’t want to let him down. He definitely raises the bar for the guys.”
“Charlie’s a guy, he shows up every single day, he’s the same person and you never catch him on a bad day,” Condon’s new teammate, Baylor transfer Kolby Branch, said. “He’s always steady eddy. He goes out there, he hits, he fields the ball, he makes every play and there’s not much else to it … He’s doing it for his teammates. There’s nothing else to him beside being the same person every single day. He just shows up and does his work. There’s nothing more you could want in a guy that somebody who shows up and does it.”
Condon did exactly as his coaches and teammates said this past weekend and put on a show for all to see. As Georgia got off to a 3-0 start to the season, Condon started games on both corners of the infield (third base – Friday, first base – Saturday) and in left field on Sunday to close things out. There he made a highlight reel catch, going over the fence and into the UNC-Asheville bullpen to secure the ball in foul territory.
While showcasing his skills to MLB scouts is nice, having Condon play all the different positions is also a way for Georgia to get him in the batters box as much as possible – and help the Bulldogs win games in the process. He finished the weekend 7-for-11 with a double in each of the three games. Condon’s first of those on Friday went into left field with an exit velocity of 118 miles per hour, one of two balls off Condon’s bat that topped 115 mph on the weekend.
Through it all though, Condon says that his expectations have never changed. No matter if he was coming onto the scene as an unknown redshirt freshman or is being hyped up as a potential top-10 pick in this year’s MLB Draft, for him, it’s always been about the same approach.
“People have asked how expectations change year to year, and I think external expectations can change a lot but I’ve always held myself to a high standard and will continue to expect the same out of myself no matter what stage it’s on, no matter what the situation is,” Condon said. “I was holding myself to a high standard last spring going into this time of year, and nothing changes there from my point of view.”
“There’s been a lot of hype around the ‘new era,’ we’re trying to show off, and I think that’s what we did this weekend,” he added after the Asheville sweep. “This is a program that’s going to have a high powered offense, there’s not a weak link in this lineup, it’s going to be tough 1-9 and the pitchers are throwing strikes, keeping guys off the bases and being really efficient. We’re going to keep that going.”
Georgia returns to action on Tuesday with a midweek matchup against Georgia State. The Bulldogs are back at Foley Field this coming weekend as Northern Kentucky comes to town for a three-game stand.
