No. 2 Draft prospect Condon crowned Golden Spikes Award winner
From walk-on to both the single-season and all-time home run crown at Georgia, Charlie Condon capped off a historic college career by winning the 2024 Golden Spikes Award on Saturday night. The Bulldogs outfielder/third baseman received the honor from USA Baseball before the first game of the Men¡¯s College World Series.
MLB¡¯s No. 2 Draft prospect beat out Oregon State second base Travis Bazzana (No. 1 Draft prospect) and Arkansas left-handed pitcher Hagen Smith (No. 6) -- Condon¡¯s teammate on Team USA and opponent in the SEC.
"Getting time to spend with Hagen and Travis has been so much fun," Condon said on ESPN. "There's been so much good, competitive baseball around the [country] this year, and to be named with this award, it's amazing."
Condon broke the Georgia program record for home runs in his second season in the Bulldogs' lineup. The redshirt sophomore connected on 37 roundtrippers in 2024, pushing his career total to 62 in 116 games played. Gordon Beckham, the most recent Georgia position player to be chosen in the first round (eighth overall, 2008), previously held both the single-season (28) and career (53) marks before Condon's power display.
"In a season that featured outstanding individual efforts from a wide range of players, Charlie Condon stood above the rest," said Paul Seiler, USA Baseball's Executive Director/CEO, in a release. "Charlie's 2024 season was nothing short of incredible to watch and he is greatly deserving of this honor. We are excited for Charlie to join our brotherhood of Golden Spikes Award winners and look forward to celebrating his special season."
The Golden Spikes Award is given out annually to the premier amateur baseball player in the country, combining on-field accolades with a penchant for sportsmanship. Condon follows in the footsteps of Dylan Crews (2023), Adley Rutschman (2019), Bryce Harper (2010), Stephen Strasburg (2009), Buster Posey (2008), David Price (2007) and Tim Lincecum (2006) as notable recent winners of the award in the past two decades.
Walking on at Georgia in 2022, Condon cracked the lineup for the first time the following season. But after 62 home runs, 30 doubles and 145 RBIs across two seasons, would his younger self believe what he¡¯s accomplished en route to becoming an anticipated top selection in the 2024 MLB Draft?
"He definitely wouldn't have believed you," Condon said. "It's something that I worked really hard for, obviously, and that¡¯s far from credit to just myself. It¡¯s about the program and people who trusted my process.
"It's an individual award, but it's far from an individual effort. And so 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."
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Condon's 37 home runs this season are fifth most in NCAA Division I history. They also mark the most in the bat-ball coefficient of restitution (BBCOR) era, which began in 2011.
Behind a historic season, Condon became Georgia's first Golden Spikes Award winner and Dick Howser Trophy winner, as well as the Bobby Bragan National Collegiate Slugger Award winner. Two years after beginning his collegiate career with a redshirt season, the towering slugger powered himself atop the landscape of the sport.
"The biggest thing I learned throughout this whole journey was the ability to trust your own timeline and then know everyone¡¯s is different," Condon said. "You're going to have friends and buddies that are making strides towards their goals quicker, faster than you are.
"But just knowing that any work you're putting in at any point in your career does not go to waste. It's all for a good purpose and just trusting in your own process and knowing that people have different timelines and knowing yours is going to work out."