Charlie Condon and Parks Harber of the Georgia Bulldogs high-five after scoring a run against the Vanderbilt Commodores at Hawkins Field on April 1, 2023 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Carly Mackler/Getty Images)
OMAHA, Neb. – Charlie Condon of the Georgia Bulldogs was named the winner of the 2024 Golden Spikes Award, presented to the top amateur baseball player in the United States, prior to the start of game one of the College World Series final.
Condon is the first player from Georgia to win the award. The other finalists were Travis Bazzana of Oregon State and Hagen Smith of Arkansas.
THE FINALISTS. pic.twitter.com/DM8oIf1DlA
— Golden Spikes Award (@USAGoldenSpikes) June 22, 2024
Condon, a redshirt sophomore from the Atlanta suburb of Marietta, Ga., put together a stellar season in 2024, led college baseball in batting with a .443 average, home runs with 37, a 1.009 slugging percentage, 233 total bases and an OPS of 1.565.
Currently ranked as the No. 2 prospect for the 2024 MLB Draft by MLB Pipeline, Condon is widely expected to be among the first three players selected. The Cleveland Guardians hold the first pick in the upcoming draft, followed by the Cincinnati Reds, Colorado Rockies and Oakland Athletics.
In his career at Georgia, Condon has a .410 batting average with 30 doubles, two triples, 62 home runs, 145 RBI and 90 walks in 116 games, all of which he started. Aside from the Golden Spikes Award, Condon also won the Dick Howser Trophy as the national college baseball player of the year and the Bobby Bragan National Collegiate Slugger Award, also firsts for a Georgia player.
While no player from the University of Georgia has previously won the Golden Spikes Award, Jason Varitek of Georgia Tech won in 1994 and Kyle Smith of Mercer University, located in Macon, Ga., won in 2016.
With the exception of 2020 when the Covid-19 Pandemic cut short the college baseball season, the award has been presented annually, since 1978, when Bob Horner of Arizona State was the inaugural winner.
