Charlie Condon’s rise to college baseball stardom almost didn’t happen
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ATHENS, Ga. — If then-Georgia coach Scott Stricklin hadn’t received a call from a friend in October of 2020, Bulldogs star Charlie Condon might have been playing quarterback at a Division III school instead of producing one of the most memorable seasons in college baseball history.
Before his senior season at The Walker School in Marietta, Georgia, the only schools that were recruiting Condon were Division III Rhodes College in Memphis and the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, which expressed interest in him playing baseball and football.
A preferred walk-on spot to play baseball at Tennessee didn’t pan out, so Condon was prepared to play two sports at a smaller school.
But then Stricklin’s friend persuaded the Georgia coach to take a chance on a skinny 6-foot-5 hitter who hadn’t stopped growing and had somehow been overlooked by nearly every college baseball program in the country.
Four years later, the prospect almost everyone missed can’t seem to miss at the plate. Condon leads NCAA hitters in batting average (.483), home runs (26), slugging percentage (1.119), total bases (169), hits (73) and home runs per game (.67).
Going into Tuesday’s game against No. 5 Clemson at Foley Field (7 p.m. ET, ESPNU) in Athens, Condon is just two home runs away from breaking Georgia’s career HR record — in only two seasons — and is threatening a 39-year-old NCAA record for slugging percentage.
Make that 𝟓𝟏!#GoDawgs | @CharlieCondon14 pic.twitter.com/sD7z6g3A6v
— Georgia Baseball (@BaseballUGA) April 20, 2024
Now a 6-6, 216-pound sophomore who has played first base, third base and all three outfield spots for the Bulldogs, Condon is in line to potentially be the No. 1 pick in the Major League Baseball draft on July 14.
“No one saw this coming,” Stricklin said.
How did the once-overlooked…
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