Charlie Condon on continuing to rake with Team USA, staying with UGA baseball in 2024 & more

Only five months ago, Charlie Condon had yet to swing a bat in a game for Georgia baseball. He sat out his first season on campus to get bigger and stronger.

He’s quickly mashed his way into the consciousness of the college baseball world after a sizzling freshman season and continued to be a force at the plate this summer for USA Baseball’s Collegiate National Team.

Along the way, the first baseman/outfielder had to process Georgia making a change atop the Bulldogs program.

Condon is a key building block for new coach Wes Johnson who was able to keep the player who won multiple national freshman of the year awards around in Athens for 2024.

“We’re looking to get this Georgia program back on the track to where it needs to be,” Condon said by phone Thursday morning from North Carolina. “We’re looking to go out there and win some more games next year.”

More: 'I'd go to war with that guy:' Wes Johnson left lasting impression on path to UGA baseball

Condon Tuesday night knocked a walk-off, two-run single in a Fourth of July 7-6 win over Chinese Taipei in Fayetteville, N.C. to complete a five-game series sweep.

Next up is the opening three games against Japan Friday-Sunday at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, N.C. before two more games in Charleston, S.C., Tuesday and Wednesday to close out the series.

“It’s been an absolute honor just to wear this jersey,” Condon said. “I think it’s the coolest jersey in baseball especially this time of year on the 4^th of July. It’s really one of the coolest experiences I think baseball has to offer and just to be a part of it with such a talented group of guys and a talented group of names. It’s been really eye opening and a fun experience.”

Condon just finished one of the greatest seasons in school history, setting an SEC freshman record with 25 home runs, leading the conference with an .800 slugging percentage and also topping the Bulldogs in batting average at .386 and RBI with 67.

After playing in the Cape Cod League, he’s hitting .368 for Team USA, according to UGA, with 14 hits and 11 runs scored and one of his four home runs was a grand slam.

More: Wes Johnson gets ball rolling with Georgia baseball: Takeaways from first press conference

“It’s the same game really, just a different bat, different group of people but at the end of the day, you gotta approach each and every game the same way,” Condon said.

UGA baseball coach Wes Johnson made Charlie Condon a priority

When Condon signed with Georgia in November of 2020, then coach Scott Stricklin touted him as “a big, strong hitter that has a lot of upside. As he continues to get stronger, we feel like he will have a lot of home run power.”

Condon, from The Walker School in Marietta, was told about the plan to redshirt him around Christmas 2021.

“I kind of just had to buckle down and take it for what it was,” he said. “I kind of saw it more of an opportunity more than anything to get the part of my game that needed to get better and the place that it needed to be.”

The 6-foot-6 Condon has added about 15 pounds since arriving on campus to his now 215-pound frame and worked on his swing to be ready for SEC pitching and maturing as a player. He credits his work ethic and discipline last offseason in working on his swing and seeing pitches for producing a season in which he was sixth in the nation in home runs per game at .45.

“It’s been nice to see some of that work start to pay off,” he said. “There’s still plenty of work to be done. I think I’m far from where my game could be.”

Condon never entered the transfer portal where he could have thrived in this age of NIL. He declined to discuss the NIL opportunity presented for staying at Georgia, but Johnson made keeping Condon a priority.

Condon indicated it wasn’t a hard sell needed by Johnson and new assistant Will Coggin who came aboard from Kentucky.

“I mean Athens is the place to be as far as college goes,” Condon said. “It’s a school that I grew up cheering for a kid so when I got the opportunity to come here out of high school it was really a no brainer. It didn’t take much convincing for me to stay even with the staff change. I had faith that Mr. (Josh) Brooks, the athletic director was going to get a good staff lined up which he has and I think we’re in a really good spot.”

Condon said Johnson and Coggin helped make the decision easier “with their impressive resumes," but Athens and UGA sold itself.

“The University of Georgia is not something that you really ever want to walk away from, especially me personally,” he said. “And so it really wasn’t too tough decision at the end of the day.”

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Georgia baseball's Charlie Condon stays hot with Team USA