Georgia has had little issue producing No. 1 overall picks of late, with Travon Walker going No. 1 overall in the 2022 NFL draft and Anthony Edwards taken with the first pick in the 2020 NBA draft.
Georgia baseball star Charlie Condon may be the next top overall pick, as ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel has Condon landing with the Cleveland Guardians at No. 1 in ESPN’s 2024 MLB Mock Draft.
“How this pick plays out isn’t a done deal by any stretch (I’d bet it won’t be until draft day, likely later in the day), so acting like this is likely to be any one player would be premature,” McDaniel wrote. “Given what I know right now, I’ll go with the consensus best player.”
Condon leads college baseball in a number of categories this year, including batting average, slugging percentage, OPS, and home runs. He already has the Georgia career and single-season home run records, as Condon has hit 35 home runs this season.
For his efforts, Condon was named the SEC Player of the Year. He also is up for a number of national awards, including the Dick Howser Award, which goes to the nation’s top college baseball player. LSU pitcher Paul Skenes won the award last year before he was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates with the No. 1 overall pick.
Thanks to the success of Condon, Georgia baseball had a standout season under first-year coach Wes Johnson. The Bulldogs (39-15) earned the No. 7 overall seed in the NCAA tournament. The Bulldogs will host a regional this weekend for the first time since 2019. That team was led by star pitcher Emerson Hancock, Georgia’s last first-round pick. He was taken with the No. 6 overall pick in the 2020 draft by the Seattle Mariners.
Condon and the Bulldogs start their NCAA tournament run against Army, with the game starting at 1 p.m. Friday. The first round of the draft will take place July 14.
