For much of the 2023 MLB Draft process, Dylan Crews was viewed as the favorite to go first overall. Given his highly regarded prospect status, that came as no surprise.
Crews was a top high-school prospect in the 2020 class and viewed by some as a possible first-round pick already. He decided to forgo the draft after the high school season was canceled and instead attend LSU. During his three years with the Tigers, he was considered the best freshman, sophomore, and junior before he was selected second overall by the Nationals.
Charlie Condon could not be further from Crews in that regard. Though they both went to SEC programs and have manned the outfield, but the similarities stop there. Condon was an under-recruited walk-on as a true freshman at Georgia and took a redshirt his true freshman year. He burst onto the scene as a redshirt freshman before taking the college world by storm in 2024 as a redshirt sophomore.
Condon now can add one more similarity to Crews: they're both the favorites to be drafted first overall before the end of the college baseball regular season. Condon will have the opportunity to leave with several records along the way, having already set the BBCOR-era record for single-season home runs at 34 and potentially having a long-shot chance to reach the all-time NCAA Division I record of 48 home runs in a season.
What is there to know about Condon as the 2024 MLB Draft looms? Here's what you need to know.
MORE: Where does Condon stand in race for HR record?
Who is Charlie Condon?
Condon is a redshirt sophomore outfielder and corner infielder for the Georgia baseball team.
Where did Charlie Condon go to high school?
Condon attended The Walker School in Marietta, Ga.
The recruitment for baseball starts early in the process. Some players even receive offers before they reach high school, and most of the top prospects are committed to colleges at least before their sophomore year.
That wasn't the case for Condon. His baseball future appeared to be as a dual-sport athlete at Rhodes College, a Division III program in Memphis, before he hit a growth spurt as a junior that saw him rise to 6-5, according to The Athletic. As with many players, Condon's high school career was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, which came during his junior year.
That meant that during a pivotal point in Condon's recruiting, collegiate teams would be unable to see him play in his junior year.
"I knew that when COVID rolled around, I had an opportunity to either lay down and say my baseball career is only going to be as good as D-III dual sport, or I had a chance to put my foot on the gas and push for something that I really wanted," Condon told The Athletic. "I'd say that was a maturity flip. I’m betting on myself, if I can get a chance to get a Division I walk-on offer, I'll try to go stake it out there and not settle for a place I could contribute right away. But I want to go to a place where I could develop and grow into something that’s a lot bigger than myself."
But in October of 2020, then-Georgia coach Scott Stricklin received a call from a friend involved with Condon's travel baseball team and advised him to give Condon a look. The description was an under-the-radar player who was a lean 6-5 with the smarts and raw talents to potentially make it work at the collegiate level. Condon had already been accepted to Georgia, meaning Stricklin could just make him a preferred walk-on.
Stricklin reviewed Condon's tape, talked with him and his family, and decided that if Condon could continue bulking up, he could be a contributor, according to ESPN.
"He's a pure walk-on," Stricklin told ESPN. "When he showed up his freshman year, he was really good. We thought he had a chance. We just sat down and came up with a plan."
Charlie Condon college timeline
That plan was for Condon to take a redshirt as a true freshman. Condon had only recently become as tall as he was, and though he mashed as a senior in high school, the Bulldogs' coaching staff still believed he needed to add muscle to take that next step.
"I think it was a hard pill to swallow when I first got it because I felt like I had proven myself and proved I could be a contributor," Condon told ESPN. "To have that opportunity kind of slip away was tough to wrap my head around. Once I accepted it, I realized there was probably going to be a silver lining somewhere along the way. I knew there was going to be a spot for me if I trusted the process and kept getting better."
Condon spent the summer of 2022 playing in the Northwoods League, swinging a wooden bat and facing collegiate pitchers in a competitive summer league. He fared alright, posting a .830 OPS with seven home runs in 61 games. It showed he could swing it against top arms, but he still came nowhere close to showing his full potential.
He described that summer as "big" in helping him face college pitching before his redshirt freshman year.
"It takes a lot of mental strength to get through a season like that being away from everything. You're kind of isolated out there, and it's just you and the game," Condon told ESPN. "It really forces you to get comfortable in your skin quickly."
Condon bulked up as was the goal, adding around 15-20 pounds, Stricklin told ESPN, and the result in 2023 was a massive campaign. He slashed .386/.484/.800 with 25 home runs, winning the consensus National Freshman of the Year honors. Along the way, he tied a school record with three home runs against No. 2 Florida, and he reached base in all but four games. He also had a 37-game on-base streak with a 24-game hitting streak.
Stricklin told The Athletic he still thinks about the decision to redshirt Condon as a true freshman, but he said that it doesn't do any good to reflect back, especially when the process has led to Condon emerging as a superstar.
"He certainly could have played as a freshman, no doubt about it. But I look at where he is right now, and I think it worked out pretty well for him," Stricklin told The Athletic. "And 99 percent of it is because of how he handled it. You can't look back, and bottom line, he is where he is. He’s in a great spot, in a great position, and he deserves a ton of credit."
The Bulldogs went 29-27 in 2023, and Stricklin was fired by the school after the season. LSU pitching coach Wes Johnson replaced him as head coach, and ESPN reported his first order of business was to get in touch with Condon to ensure the slugger would not be leaving Athens via the transfer portal.
Condon told ESPN that was "never a real possibility."
"Whether it was this coaching staff or not, the university was the only place that gave me a chance out of high school. It was the university that had given me all the time and resources and put so much into my development. I couldn't turn my back on that," Condon told ESPN.
He has delivered an even bigger season as a redshirt sophomore. Entering the team's penultimate series of the season, facing South Carolina, Condon has a Division I-leading slugging percentage of 1.105, meaning that in an average at-bat, he is recording more than one total base. That means pitchers are better off on average walking him than pitching to him. He also leads the nation in home runs with 33, tying the BBCOR-era record with still six regular-season games left, never mind potential opportunities in the SEC and NCAA tournament.
Charlie Condon MLB draft
Condon is currently expected to be one of the first players selected in the 2024 MLB Draft. He is viewed as the No. 1 prospect by MLB Pipeline, Baseball America, The Athletic, and ESPN.
The biggest question about Condon will be how the teams at the top of the draft view him. Right-handed bats limited to first base or a corner outfield spot don't often go first overall unless they are generational bats. Condon just might be that type of bat. Spencer Torkelson (the 2020 first overall pick) is the only college first baseman to go 1-1. Condon has diversified his defensive profile by playing center field and third base, but it's still possible he could slide if teams don't view him as a defender at a more premium position.
Scouts are overwhelmingly enamored by his bat, though, with some describing him to ESPN as a "unicorn" for his combination of size, bat speed, and ability to hit inside pitches.
"When you start going through the comparisons for him, we start brushing up against Hall of Fame players and legendary figures. There are very few right-handed hitters with those long arms that can get to the inside pitch and handle the velocity that he can," one scout told ESPN.
"It's unbelievable when you look at his numbers. Now, granted, they're smaller sample sizes, but when you look at his numbers against 95-mph-plus pitching or against special breaking balls, his numbers are actually better. He's such a rare combination of size, power, and the ability to hit. You hate to throw around a colloquialism, but he's kind of a generational college player."
If drafted first overall, Condon would be the first Bulldog to be selected with the No. 1 pick in the MLB draft.
Charlie Condon stats
| Year | Age | G | PA | HR | SB-CS | BB% | K% | AVG/OBP/SLG |
| 2023 | 20 | 56 | 254 | 25 | 0-0 | 13% | 17.7% | .386/.484/.800 |
| 2024 | 21 | 47 | 236 | 33 | 3-1 | 17.4% | 14.8% | .459/.568/1.105 |
| Career | -- | 103 | 490 | 164 | 3-1 | 15.1% | 16.3% | .419/.525/.941 |
