Top Draft prospect ties single-season homer record in BBCOR era

May 5th, 2024

After breaking two records with one swing last weekend, Charlie Condon kept his power stroke alive in pursuit of his next historical milestone: the most home runs in the bat-ball coefficient of restitution (BBCOR) era.

MLB’s No. 1 2024 Draft prospect swatted his 33rd homer of the season Sunday in a series finale with Vanderbilt. It marked the Georgia slugger's seventh straight game with a roundtripper -- the longest streak of his amateur career.

"Some days, it feels better than others," Condon said. "But you know, that's baseball. You got to keep putting in the work to where you're going to put yourself in the best position to succeed every day because things don't come and go overnight. It's about showing up ready to go every day and just being able to put quality at-bats together."

Condon mashed a middle-middle slider to left-center field, leaving the batter’s box with a no-doubt shot off his bat. With his 33rd homer of the year, he tied Florida’s Jac Caglianone (2023) for the single-season record in the BBCOR era.

The NCAA adopted the BBCOR standard for baseball bats in 2011 to preserve the integrity of the game at the collegiate level, changing the material used in bats to lower batted-ball exit velocities and improve overall safety for players.

"It's awesome," Condon said about tying Caglianone's record, which was accomplished in 71 games. "Cags is a good buddy of mine. I've been talking to him a lot this year. I'm excited to see him here in a couple of weeks."

Georgia swept Vanderbilt behind a strong weekend from Condon -- who went 5-for-10 with seven runs scored, six runs driven in and three walks to go along with his three homers. After run-ruling the No. 17 Commodores on Friday and Saturday, the No. 19 Bulldogs capped off a series sweep with an 11-7 victory Sunday.

"The team's success definitely feels way better," Condon said. "It's always more fun in the locker room after a win and a big series win like this. I'll take that any day of the week over having a good game individually and losing, so for it to be together, it's awesome for sure."

Condon broke Gordon Beckham's single-season and all-time Georgia home run records with his 29th home run (54th of his school career) on April 27.

The 6-foot-6 right-handed hitter has continued his torrid ‘24 campaign behind his 70-grade power. He boosted his batting average to .461 in his 47th game of the season, after entering the afternoon with a slash line of .458/.567/1.102. The redshirt sophomore also remains at the top in batting average and slugging.

"I think our M.O. as an offense has always been the long ball and hitting home runs," Condon said. "But when you can have quality at-bats all around and just make those home runs cash in for more runs, it's big time. So it's just about sticking to our approach, execute and being confident in what we can do."