Rockies' Condon hits new heights with five knocks in Arizona Fall League
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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- The Arizona Fall League’s five-hit club should come with a jacket.
Entering Wednesday, there had been only seven individual single-game performances on the prospect showcase circuit since 2017. One was by the Braves' NL Rookie of the Year candidate Drake Baldwin last year. Three more came from current Top 100 prospects Colt Emerson (SEA No. 1/MLB No. 9), Josue Briceño (DET No. 3/MLB No. 33) and Carter Jensen (KC No. 1/MLB No. 39) in 2024. The three others were by 2025 Major Leaguers JJ Bleday (2021), Liam Hicks (2023) and Alejandro Osuna (2024).
Then Charlie Condon made it eight.
The No. 2 Rockies prospect (MLB No. 61) went 5-for-6 with a double in Salt River’s 14-1 win over Mesa at Salt River Fields. Beyond it setting the mark for most knocks in a Fall League game this season, the performance was also the first five-hitter of Condon's professional career since Colorado selected him third overall out of Georgia last summer.
“Just staying bought into what I've been working on in the cage pregame and buying into the approach and holding my direction,” Condon said. “I think I've done a good job of putting myself in a place to keep the barrel in the zone longer, and usually that leads to some hits. But [I was] just lucky to get pitches to put good swings on today and executed well.”
The 6-foot-6, right-handed-hitting first baseman got out to a quick start with a 102.2 mph two-bagger to right-center field on the first pitch he saw from right-hander Bryce Cunningham (NYY No. 5), a 96.0 mph fastball, in the bottom of the first inning.
“With a guy like Bryce, [I’m] just being ready for anything because you never know when the best pitch you're going to get to hit is,” Condon said. “When that one's on the first pitch, you don't want to let that one go.”
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That proved to be the 2024 Golden Spikes Award winner’s only extra-base hit on the afternoon as he added singles in the third, fourth, sixth and seventh before finally being retired on a popup to second base in the eighth. Only the sixth-inning base hit was considered hard-hit with an exit velocity of 99.1 mph; even the third-inning one registered just 67 mph but managed to drop in front of center fielder Fenwick Trimble (MIA No. 26).
The former Bulldog has reached base in eight straight games for Salt River, and after opening the AFL season 1-for-13 in his first three contests, he’s 14-for-31 (.452) with a homer, a triple, a double and five walks over the recent eight-game span. His 15 total hits pace the Fall League while he’s tied for fourth with 21 total bases.
Condon’s plus-plus raw power is what got him prominent Draft status in 2024. After all, his 37 homers as a Georgia junior set the Division I record in the BBCOR era (since 2011). There have been times when his pop has very much shown up in the desert -- see his 110.2 mph grand slam on Oct. 15 -- but after his first full season, Condon is finding other ways he can contribute offensively.
“I think a lot of the power comes when you're doing a good job of handling the bat,” he said. “That's kind of what I try to have my foundation be on is handling the bat and being able to hit the ball over the yard. Then when you're seeing it well enough to do that, that's when some of that power starts to come. But you can't really go out there chasing power because then you're not going to have hits or power.”
Condon has made such adjustments at the plate during his time in the desert.
“It's just a little bit about forward posture,” he said. “I think sometimes you can get stuck back and everything's kind of in and out of the zone and spinning. Just doing a better job of staying over the plate, feeling your hands work down the line and not across my body.”
Wednesday’s performance felt the culmination of a year’s worth of work for Condon.
After his first full season was delayed by a broken wrist in Spring Training, he didn’t truly heat up until August with Double-A Hartford, where he slugged .589 with six homers that month. Now fully in a groove, he has his first five-hit game since March 30, 2024 while still with Georgia against a Tennessee team that is very much in the NL West news following the Giants’ managerial hiring of Tony Vitello.
“It’s always fun to be able to have a good box score,” Condon said. “But [I’m] just happy to be able to get some barrels on and then work on what I've been practicing.”