Condon's full season, new mindset crucial for '26 development

DENVER -- Questions regarding Rockies No. 3 prospect and 2023 Draft top pick Charlie Condon ranged a narrow gamut: from "When is he going to be called up?" to "Why hasn’t it happened already?"

Condon, however, answered more important issues at Triple-A Albuquerque throughout the year. Injuries had disrupted his career from the moment the Rockies selected him third overall in 2023, but he posted up for 130 games this year -- which was more than his previous two seasons in the Minors combined. He also went through a full season of torrid streaks and slumps and ended with the following Pacific Coast League-ranking numbers -- third in home runs (27), third in extra-base hits (59), fourth in slugging (.514) and sixth in OPS (.904).

As for anything involving a callup to the Rockies, the 23-year-old Condon, baseball's No. 55 overall prospect, determined that it wasn’t his job to ask or offer answers.

“I haven’t really communicated with anybody from the front office since Spring Training,” Condon said. “They kind of just send you out. I knew what I needed to do this year. I think the whole world knows what I need to do to get up to Denver, which is where I’m hoping to play some baseball next year.

“They made it clear to me in Spring Training what they were looking for from me, and the situation. You know, they’ve got their hands full during the season.”

Condon isn’t on the 40-man Major League roster, and the Rockies aren’t due to make that decision until next December. The Rockies chose not to speed up Condon’s timeline this year, although they could change plans in the future.

As the Rockies endured a fourth straight season of triple-digit losses, they tested existing Major Leaguers in the right-handed-hitting Condon’s positions. First baseman TJ Rumfield performed well enough to earn National League Rookie of the Year consideration. Right-handed-hitting outfielders Jordan Beck and Sterlin Thompson each saw time in the Majors, and Beck and left-handed-hitting Zac Veen are getting the outfield reps late in the season.

With the Isotopes, Condon developed an even-keeled persona that is every bit as important to a player as a strategy or swing adjustment.

Condon’s year included two significant slumps -- 20 games with a .194 batting average and two home runs from April 9 to May 5, and 16 games with a .222 average and no home runs from July 4 to 31. Both were significant time periods, but the second major slump was shorter than the first. Other downturns, inevitable over a lengthy season, were more minor.

“It’s just what I’ve been talking to the coaches about here -- you go through a rough patch, then it feels like you come out a little sharper than previously,” Condon said. “To have a couple of waves - hot streaks and then some colder ones -- each time you get into the groove again, you learn more about yourself.”

During the first slump, Albuquerque manager Pedro Lopez believed Condon’s constant work was backfiring, so he gave him a day off and told him to stay out of the batting cage. Then he walked by the cage and saw Condon working.

“I brought him into my office and asked him, ‘What do you do when you go home?’” Lopez said. “He goes, ‘I watch baseball.’ I said, ‘What do you think about? He said, ‘I think baseball.’

“I told him, ‘For me, I don’t think you can think about baseball 24/7. That’s the wrong way to go about it. Your mind needs a break from time to time.'"

Lopez said Condon is a good golfer, but he mostly stayed away from the clubs to take it easy during the season. But he did get better at watching a movie to take his mind away from baseball.

When Condon’s mind was clear, it was sharp in devising an approach.

“He’s a smart kid who takes that stuff and runs with it -- he likes the game-planning and the strategy stuff and understands that to reach the next level he’ll have to put himself in leverage situations,” Albuquerque hitting coach Matt Snyder said. “Actually seeing him put things together, seeing a lot of that stuff mesh was cool to watch.”

Things meshed like crazy on Sept. 6, when Condon launched two grand slams and drove in nine runs during a 4-for-5 performance, also with a double, in a 10-6 home victory over Tacoma.

Condon didn’t complain about the fact that the night occurred in Albuquerque instead of Denver.

“You’re going to be where your feet are because that’s how it works. You can’t just will yourself out of a place. Nothing I could do or think," Condon said. "I couldn’t snap my fingers to get me to where I want to be. I just locked in on what I could do to be the best player for the Isotopes, to help them win.”