- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Charlie Condon was part of some illustrious company, and he doesn’t plan on getting left behind.
The third overall pick in the 2024 draft wants to make his major league debut this season and believes it’s possible.
“I think about that a lot,” the Rockies’ No. 2 prospect and potential first baseman of the future said last week as he settled in to his first big-league camp.
“But it’s not what I’m worried about, it’s not what I’m playing for,” the softspoken product out of Georgia continued. “I’m trying to play the best baseball I can. But every guy in this locker room, and the guys in the (minor league) locker down the hallway, wants to get to Denver and help the Rockies win up there.”
Several of the players drafted before and after Condon in the first round have already made their marks, or are about to. Condon might not keep track of such things, but sportswriters do:
- Second baseman Travis Bazzana, the No. 1 overall pick out of Oregon State, finished last season with Triple-A Columbus after a painful summer, but word out of Guardians camp is that his major league debut is on the horizon. Bazzana played just 84 games in 2025. First, he suffered a right oblique strain in May while playing with Double-A Akron, missing almost two months. Then he missed the final week of Columbus’s season with a left oblique strain. Bazzana ended up slashing .245/.389/.424 with 17 doubles, five triples, nine homers, 39 RBIs over 374 plate appearances.
- Right-hander pitcher Chase Burns, selected second overall by the Reds out of Wake Forest, debuted last season, going 0-3 with a 4.57 ERA in 13 games (eight starts). He’s in the mix to break camp as part of Cincinnati’s starting rotation.
- The big winner of the ’24 draft, at least so far, was the Athletics, who drafted first baseman Nick Kurtz with the fourth pick out of Wake Forest. On his way to being named American League rookie of the year, Kurtz hit 36 home runs with 86 RBIs in 117 games, joining superstars Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani as one of only three players with at least 400 plate appearances to post an OPS over 1.000.
- Konnor Griffin, picked ninth overall by the Pirates out of Jackson Prep High School in Jackson, Miss., is just 19. He’s currently the top prospect on almost all of the charts, and he’s being talked about as a generational player. He has a real shot to break camp as Pittsburgh’s starting shortstop.
- Of course, there are cautionary tales, too. Jac Caglianone, picked sixth overall out of Florida, debuted last season and played 62 games with the Royals. After a sizzling start, he posted a .157/.237/.295 slash line with seven homers.
However, Caglianone was sensational in the minors, slashing .337/.408/.617 in 66 games between Double-A and Triple-A last year until his season was curtailed by injuries.
Which brings us back to Condon, who could debut this season, though not likely until the second half. His infant career has been slowed by injuries, and initially, he had a tough time adjusting to pro ball.
In 2024, at High-A Spokane, he tried to play through a left-hand injury before shutting down late in the season, finishing with 35 games played. He hit just .180, with one home run and 34 strikeouts in 109 plate appearances.
Then, last year, Condon broke his right wrist diving for a ball in his first minor league spring training game and missed all of April. He worked his way through the Arizona Fall League before debuting with Double-A Hartford on July 2. In 35 games for the Yard Goats, he hit .235 with 11 home runs.
“My first quarter of pro ball wasn’t what I wanted or what anyone thought it would be,” Condon said of his time at Spokane. “And then I was really excited last year at this time, to show up and show the true version of myself. I felt really good and then the broken wrist happened.”
It was, he admits, a huge blow.
“I felt like I had put myself in a really good spot to cruise through camp, put up some good numbers and then roll into the season,” he said. “Then something like that happens. So, you have to slow yourself down and think things through. I guess it was really just a test of patience and a test of being able to be in your shoes wherever you are.”
But it took some time to grasp that kind of insight.
“It’s way easier to speak about it that way now, in hindsight,” he said. “There was definitely that first week after I broke my wrist where I wasn’t in the best spot mentally. I was upset about what happened, and I wished I could go back and change it. But there was obviously no way to do that.”
Now he can only move forward.
“I have faith in my abilities, I know what I can do,” he said. “Now I get a chance to show what I can do in my first big-league camp.”
Want more Rockies news? Sign up for the Rockies Insider to get all our MLB analysis.
from The Denver Post https://ift.tt/Kwr3l6u
Comments
Post a Comment