Insight on Charlie Condon's Inspiring Story with Georgia Baseball

An inside look at how college baseball star Charlie Condon went from a walk-on to a future MLB star in the making.

When talking about Georgia baseball, it's nearly impossible to talk about their 2024 season without mentioning Charlie Condon. The current college baseball star has took the league by storm this season, but his college career didn't start out like most top future MLB prospects.

D1 Baseball's Mark Etheridge pieced together a story that provided insight on Condon's journey from multiple perspectives and it explained why the Georgia baseball player is different than most. Etheridge gathered quotes from current Georgia baseball coach Wes Johnson, former head coach Scott Stricklin and Condon himself to help tell the story.

“There wasn’t much to his recruitment,” said Stricklin. “His junior year was COVID. No one was able to see him play. He had gone through an injury. He was on 6-4-3 out of Atlanta and wasn’t even on their top team. He wasn’t on anybody’s radar. He was tall and lanky and wasn’t strong enough.”

Condon was set to play baseball and football at Rhodes College. That was the plan until coach Stricklin received a call from a friend to come check out a kid who "loves Georgia" and "just wants a chance." Stricklin gave Condon a chance as a preferred walk-on and he jumped all over it.

After discussions with the coaching staff, Condon decided to redshirt his freshman year to focus on gaining weight and getting work in through the Northwoods League, a collegiate wooden bat summer baseball league.

“He redshirted,” said Stricklin. “He jumped on board with it. His parents jumped on board with it. We talked about the plan to put on 20 pounds, lift weights, and go play in the Northwoods League and get 300 at-bats and see what happens. Charlie handled it the right way. He worked really hard. He is the total package. It all went the way we hoped it would.”

Condon would eventually add more weight to his frame and by the end of his redshirt season, he was ready to play ball for the Bulldogs. This time on scholarship.

In 2023, Condon slashed .386, hit 25 home runs, racked up 67 RBIs and quickly became a name that everyone had on their radar. Following that season, the University of Georgia decided to move on from coach Stricklin and hire former LSU assistant coach Wes Johnson to be the new head man. Despite seeing the coach who gave him a shot to play D1 baseball leave the program, leaving was never an option in Condon's mind.

“It never really was a thought to cross my mind to leave Georgia and play ball somewhere else,” said Condon. “With my background, the University of Georgia was the only school to give me a chance to play baseball in college. I’m not going to ever turn my back to that. I know how thankful I was for a university of such a high caliber put to much into my development. I still owe a lot to this program and this school. I’m really comfortable playing in the Red and Black and there’s no other school I would want to represent.”

Coach Johnson called back to his days at LSU, where he coached baseball stars Dylan Crews and Paul Skenes to describe what it's like coaching Condon.

“It’s similar to when (LSU head coach) Jay (Johnson) would write Paul Skenes’ name every Friday,” said Johnson. “...There was a comfort there. That’s what it’s like to write Charlie’s name on the lineup card.”

Now, in 2024, Condon is labeled as a potential first overall pick in the upcoming MLB draft and his third year with the Bulldogs has been nothing short of incredible. He currently holds a .482 batting average, 24 home runs and 52 RBIs with plenty of games left on the schedule. He is on pace to set records and has helped his team tremendously in the win column.

Condon's college baseball journey doesn't look like most others who are in a position to be the first overall pick in the draft, but his play on the field is nothing short of such a projection.

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