With Georgia’s 2024 baseball season over, sophomore infielder Charlie Condon has probably played his final Bulldogs game.
If so, Condon left with a flourish, scoring a record-setting 37th home run of the year Monday night in the ninth inning of the Dawgs’ season-ending 8-5 playoff loss to the N.C. State Wolfpack.
Considering his impact on a historic season for the Bulldogs, Condon is expected to go first overall in the upcoming MLB Draft in July.
“It has been a long ride since I got here. I am just incredibly thankful for this university, this program, coaches, and teammates, everybody that put all their own resources into my development,” Condon said during Monday’s postgame press conference. “I just would not be anywhere close to who I am without that.”
During his run with the Bulldogs, the Marietta native scored a career total of 62 home runs and led the nation with a 1.099 slugging percentage. Condon redshirted his first year, beginning his legacy during his sophomore year at the university.
According to USA Baseball. com, Condon is the national leader for several college baseball records, including a .445 batting average, 98 hits, and 37 home runs this season.
With numerous records broken, Condon was recently announced as a finalist for the Golden Spikes Award, one of the most prestigious College Baseball awards.
“It means a lot to me, obviously. It’s an individual award, but it represents a lot more than that, just because you cannot win an award like that without a good group of people around you and a lot of people doing their job in this program,” Condon said. “I like to think of it as an accolade for this group and what we have done with uplifting each other.”
Although Condon has not yet announced his plans for the upcoming season and MLB draft, he believes the Bulldogs will remain successful, saying the program “has made a huge leap in the right direction.”
“I know for a fact that if this isn’t my last year here, or if this is my last year here, it’s in great hands,” Condon said. “There is no doubt in my mind that this program is pointed in the right direction.”
During the Bulldogs’ press conference following the loss to N.C. State, head coach Wes Johnson credited Condon with being one of the most unique players he has ever coached.
“It’s like every time he comes up, you think he is going to hit a home run, and if he hits a ball 112 and he lines out, then he’s had a bad day,” Johnson said. “There’s a handful of people on this planet who can do that.”
With Johnson completing his first year leading the Bulldogs program, he believes he may never coach another player as good as Condon.
“You won’t ever find another Charlie Condon, at least in my time coaching,” said Johnson. “You are lucky if you coach (a) Charlie Condon once every 10 years.”