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Georgia’s Charlie Condon has pieced together the greatest offensive season in SEC history — and the best by any Division I player since the Gorilla Ball era ended in 1998.
Florida’s Jac Caglianone’s offensive numbers are just a touch below, but he might be the most talented 2-way prospect the conference has ever seen.
Beginning Thursday evening in Athens, the 2 stars, both firmly in the mix to be the No. 1 overall pick in this summer’s MLB Draft, again will share the same field, each with an opportunity to make a closing argument about everything from draft pecking order to postseason awards.
Cags or Condon? Condon or Cags?
The margins are razor thin and there is no wrong answer — only fierce debating points — but let’s make the case for each in the race to be named the SEC’s Player of the Year in 2024.
The Case for Condon
Where do you begin?
Pick an offensive category and Condon is putting up historic numbers. He’s doing things no college baseball player has ever done — in any era, in any conference, much less the best baseball conference in the country.
Compare Condon’s offensive exploits to recent SEC Players of the Year … and you quickly realize how fortunate guys like Dylan Crews, Sonny DiChiara, Gordon Beckham, Matt LaPorta, etc., etc., were to not be involved in this race.
There’s great … and then there’s what Condon has done.
Condon has set the NCAA’s BBCOR-era record for home runs in a season with 34 — already the 2nd-highest total in any era in SEC history. If he goes on a power surge and Georgia makes it to the Super Regionals, there is a chance he threatens Brandon Larson’s SEC record of 40 home runs in a season, set in 1997, the final stages of Gorilla Ball and turbo-charged bats.
He’s also on the verge of becoming the first SEC player — ever — to slug 1.000 for a season. That number is so magical that only 10 Division I players have reached it in the 50 years the NCAA has recorded the stat. And nobody has slugged 1.000 since 1998, when the NCAA finally decided to dampen the out-of-control explosiveness of modern bats. The BBCOR era began in 2011 with a goal to restrict and unify power even more.
Since then, only 2 SEC players have even slugged .800: Condon, last season, and Mississippi State’s Brent Rooker, who slugged .810 in 2017.
Condon enters the final regular-season series against Florida slugging an absurd 1.082. If he maintains that pace, he’ll finish with the 5th-highest recorded slugging percentage in NCAA history.
Even though he’s the BBCOR-era home run king, he doesn’t just slug.
Forget the SEC — Condon also leads the nation in hitting (.454) and home runs (34). Only 1 player in D-I history — Indiana’s Mike Smith in 1992 — has led the country in both in the same season. Condon is a lock to win the SEC batting title and HR title. He enters the final weekend with 72 RBIs, trailing Texas A&M’s Braden Montgomery by 5.
Translation: Condon still has a chance to become the SEC’s 3rd Triple Crown winner, something only Rooker and Rafael Palmeiro have accomplished. Even among that company, Condon stands alone.
Palmeiro hit .415 with 29 HRs and 94 RBIs when he won the Triple Crown in 1984. He slugged .886. Outstanding numbers.
Rooker hit .387 with 23 HRs and 82 RBIs in 2017. He slugged .811. Again, outstanding numbers.
But relatively pedestrian compared to Condon.
By any measure, under any context, Condon has produced the greatest offensive season in league history.
The Case for Caglianone
Condon doesn’t pitch.
Essentially, that’s the opening and closing argument — and it’s an excellent one, too.
But before we get to Cags’ pitching ability — and whether that’s enough to overcome Condon’s historic hitting — let’s focus on Caglianone’s dominant tool, the one MLB scouts view as his money-maker: his bat.
Caglianone is a special talent at the plate who possesses more pure power than Condon.
Like Condon, he’s making history and chasing more, too.
Earlier this season, he tied the NCAA record by hitting a home run in 9 consecutive games. (Condon nearly matched that, homering in 8 straight.)
Now, Cags is on the verge of becoming the 1st SEC player and 2nd Division I player — again, in history — to hit 30 home runs twice in a career. He hit 33 last season. He enters the Georgia series with 28. (Let’s hope Georgia pitches to him, unlike Vanderbilt and, most notably, Kentucky, which intentionally walked Cags a ridiculous 4 times in 1 game last weekend.)
Sure, his offensive numbers trail Condon across the board in 2024, but they compare favorably to previous SEC POY winners: .418 average, 28 HRs, 55 RBIs, .862 slugging percentage. Those numbers hunt.
Cags’ most impressive, most unfathomable offensive stat? He’s only struck out 18 times this season.
His maturation as a hitter is staggering and obvious.
Last season, Cags was a pure slugger. He mashed 33 homers, setting the BBCOR-era HR record that Condon just broke. But he hit just .323 and was on-base only slightly more often (.389). Strikeouts were a big reason: He whiffed 58 times.
This season, he modified his approach without sacrificing any power — a fact evidenced by a pair of jaw-dropping home runs: First, the 516-foot shot he sent over the scoreboard in right field at Condron Ballpark and, second, a flick-of-the-wrist oppo shot that somehow found the left-field berm against USF.
In any other year, we’d be talking about Caglianone having arguably the greatest season in SEC history.
Pitching will play a part in this debate. Caglianone is a lock to win the John Olerud Award, which recognizes the nation’s best 2-way player. That voting should be unanimous.
But will it be enough to overcome Condon in the SEC POY race … or Golden Spikes Award announced later this summer?
It depends on how much credit voters give Cags for pitching — compared to how effective he’s actually been.
The reality is: As explosive and enticing as the tools are — high-90s fastball, nasty slider and developing changeup coming out of a 6-4, 240-pound frame, packaged with a catchy “Jac-tani” nickname to boot — the results haven’t matched the hype. His average start has lasted just 5 innings. His 4.07 ERA ranks 10th in the SEC. He doesn’t rank in the top 15 in strikeouts or wins. He’s walking 6.2 batters per 9 innings.
For all of the strides Cags made as a hitter over the offseason, his pitching numbers — and command issues — are almost identical to 2023.
Again, watching him pitch and hit in the same game is must-see TV. Six times this season — 6 times! — he has hit a homer in the same game he started on the mound. Condon certainly can’t match that feat.
But it’s worth noting that Condon isn’t merely a hitter, either. He’s not a DH or a slugger hiding at first base. He’s an elite athlete capable of playing anywhere, which is why professional scouts still aren’t sure whether he’ll be a corner infielder or corner outfielder in the big leagues.
Let’s pick a winner, shall we?
The vote for SEC Player of the Year will be close. In reality, it probably should be shared between 2 historically great players, either of whom would have been a near-unanimous pick in almost every other year. Co-POYs are possible, too, though rare. Most recently, Crews and DiChiara shared the award in 2022.
Will the final series — Caglianone is scheduled to pitch Saturday’s regular-season finale against Georgia, against Condon — tip the scales?
That would be peak recency bias, but it’s certainly possible.
Condon has been the clubhouse leader all season. Caglianone has a chance to steal the award, especially if he can get to 30 HRs and pick up a pivotal win Saturday that helps Florida feel better about its NCAA Tournament positioning. (Regardless of their outstanding RPI, the Gators must finish the season/SEC Tournament over .500 to be eligible to receive an at-large bid.)
The ball will be in his hand. So will his bat. Anything short of a heroic finish, however, and 2024 will be remembered as the year Charlie Condon showed us: There just went the greatest hitter the SEC has ever seen.
Managing Editor
A 30-time APSE award-winning editor with previous stints at the Miami Herald, The Indianapolis Star and News & Observer, Executive Editor Chris Wright oversees editorial operations for Saturday Down South.
