Two years ago, Charlie Condon took a redshirt year after arriving at Georgia and didn’t play a game. He then carved out a starting role in 2023 before a record-setting 2024 season won him the Golden Spikes Award.
It was quite a road for Condon, from walk-on to the best player in college baseball and top-rated draft prospect. He set a new record in the BBCOR era with 37 home runs and became Georgia’s first Golden Spikes Award finalist since Gordon Beckham.
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As for what he’d say if someone told him two years ago he’d win the award, Condon said it would’ve been tough to believe. But he didn’t take all the credit for the achievement.
“He definitely wouldn’t have believed you,” Condon told ESPN’s Kevin Connors after Saturday’s announcement. “It’s something that I worked really hard for, obviously. And it’s far from credit to just myself – it’s about the program and people who trusted my process. It’s one thing to be able to buy in to your own process, but to have the group of people that were willing to go in on it with you and the people that lifted me up throughout that year and then, moving into a starting role last year and to what went down last year.
“It’s an individual award, but it’s far from an individual effort. Just to be able to have that support staff and have this award represent more than just me, just the process that everybody helped me with.”
All told, Condon ended the 2024 season with a .433 batting average along with the record 37 home runs and 78 RBI. He joined Arkansas ace Hagen Smith and Oregon State standout Travis Bazzanna as Golden Spikes Award finalists, but the Georgia star’s record campaign put him over the top.
It was also an exclamation point on a whirlwind three years at Georgia. But Charlie Condon said his hard work paid off, and his path wasn’t the same as his fellow finalists. That’s why his message to young players was to stick to their game and avoid getting caught up in what others are doing to find success.
“The biggest thing I learned throughout this whole journey was the ability to trust your own timeline and know that everyone’s is different,” Condon said. “You’re gonna have friends and buddies that are making strides towards their goals quicker or faster than you are. But just knowing that any work that you’re putting in at any point in your career does not go to waste. It’s all for good purpose.
“Just trusting in your own process and knowing that people have different timelines and knowing that yours is gonna work out. Just keeping your head down and knowing that your work is going to be productive.”
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