Georgia baseball coach Wes Johnson knows what a No. 1 overall draft pick looks like. Prior to coming to Georgia, Johnson was the pitching coach at LSU, where he worked with Paul Skenes.
Skenes was the top pick in the 2023 MLB Draft and has since quickly established himself as one of the top pitchers in Major League Baseball after just a short stint in the minors.
In his time with LSU, Skenes won both the Dick Howser and Golden Spikes Awards. Georgia third baseman Charlie Condon took home both of those awards this season.
“Where those two guys are similar, the great ones I’ve been around, they just have a different mind,” Johnson said in June. “They want to challenge themselves daily. When they do that, if they don’t get the result they always want, they understand that they’re going to get better because of how hard they challenge themselves.”
If Condon follows Skenes’ arc and becomes the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 MLB Draft, he would help put Georgia in rare company in terms of producing No. 1 overall picks.
LSU and UCLA are the only two schools to produce a No. 1 overall pick in baseball, basketball and football. LSU became the first school to accomplish the feat when Shaquille O’Neal was taken with the No. 1 pick in the 1992 NBA Draft. Ben McDonald went No. 1 in the 1989 MLB Draft and Billy Cannon was the No. 1 pick in the 1960 NFL Draft. LSU has had multiple No. 1 picks in all three drafts.
UCLA matched the feat when Gerrit Cole was taken with the No. 1 pick in the 2011 MLB Draft. Troy Aikman was taken with the No. 1 pick in the 1989 NFL Draft and Lew Alcindor, better known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, was taken with the No. 1 overall pick in the 1969 NBA Draft.
If the Cleveland Guardians, who own the No. 1 pick in this year’s MLB Draft, take Condon, it would be the third time in the last five years that a Georgia Bulldog has been the No. 1 overall pick in either the MLB, NBA or NFL Draft. Anthony Edwards was drafted by the Minnesota Timberwolves with the No. 1 pick in the 2020 NBA Draft. Travon Walker was the No. 1 pick in the 2022 NFL Draft.
Edwards is the only Georgia basketball player to be taken in the first round of the last 10 NBA drafts. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope was taken with the No. 8 pick in the 2013 NBA Draft.
As for Georgia, Condon would become the first No. 1 overall pick in baseball program history. The current highest-drafted Bulldog is John Henderson, who the Chicago Cubs took with the No. 4 overall pick in the 1975 MLB Draft.
Emerson Hancock, No. 6 overall pick in the 2020 MLB Draft via the Seattle Mariners, is the most recent first-round pick from the program. In the past decade, Georgia baseball has had only one other first-round pick, with Robert Tyler going with the No. 38 overall pick in the 2016 MLB Draft.
Condon is competing alongside Oregon State second baseman Travis Bazzana, Florida first baseman Jac Caglianone, and West Virginia shortstop JJ Wetherholt to be the No. 1 pick in the 2024 MLB Draft. The Cleveland Guardians have the No. 1 overall pick this year.
Georgia, unsurprisingly, has been far better represented in the NFL draft. The Bulldogs have had five players taken with the No. 1 overall pick: Frank Sinkwich (1943), Charley Trippi (1945), Harry Babcock (1953), Matthew Stafford (2009) and Walker (2022). Only USC has had more No. 1 overall draft picks in the history of the NFL draft, as the Trojans have produced six.
Since Kirby Smart has taken over the football program, Georgia has produced 17 first-round draft picks.
Condon won’t have to wait too much longer to find out if he’ll join such illustrious company. The 2024 MLB Draft will begin on Sunday and be held in Dallas.
Georgia baseball first-round draft picks since 2015
- Robert Tyler, pitcher, Colorado Rockies, No. 38, 2016
- Emerson Hancock, pitcher, Seattle Mariners, No. 6, 2020
Georgia basketball first-round draft picks since 2015
- Anthony Edwards, guard, Minnesota Timberwolves, No. 1, 2020
Georgia football first-round draft picks since 2015
- Todd Gurley, running back, Los Angeles Rams, No. 10, 2015
- Leonard Floyd, outside linebacker, Chicago Bears, No. 9, 2016
- Roquan Smith, inside linebacker, Chicago Bears, No. 8, 2018
- Isaiah Wynn, offensive tackle, New England Patriots, No. 23, 2018
- Sony Michel, running back, New England Patriots, No. 31, 2018
- Deandre Baker, cornerback, New York Giants, No. 30, 2019
- Andrew Thomas, offensive tackle, New York Giants, No. 4, 2020
- Isaiah Wilson, offensive tackle, New York Giants, No. 29, 2020
- Eric Stokes, cornerback, Green Bay Packers, No. 29, 2021
- Travon Walker, defensive end, Jacksonville Jaguars, No. 1, 2022
- Jordan Davis, defensive tackle, Philadelphia Eagles, No. 13, 2022
- Quay Walker, inside linebacker, Green Bay Packers, No. 22, 2022
- Devonte Wyatt, defensive tackle, Green Bay Packers, No. 28, 2022
- Lewis Cine, safety, Minnesota Vikings, No. 32, 2022
- Jalen Carter, defensive tackle, Philadelphia Eagles, No. 9, 2023
- Broderick Jones, offensive tackle, Pittsburgh Steelers, No. 14, 2023
- Nolan Smith, outside linebacker, Philadelphia Eagles, No. 30, 2023
- Brock Bowers, tight end, Las Vegas Raiders, No. 13, 2024
- Amarius Mims, offensive tackle, Cincinnati Bengals, No. 18, 2024
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