BREAKING NEWS: YANKEES STAR PLAYER JASSON DOMINGUEZ REVEALS HIS REASONS FOR LEAVING THE TEAM…

Three a long time prior, Charlie Condon pulled in zero intrigued from professional scouts or NCAA Division I baseball programs. He wound up at Georgia as a favored walk-on and redshirted amid his to begin with season in Athens.

Presently he’s the finest prospect within the 2024 Draft and sits on MLB Pipeline’s upgraded and extended Draft Best 150.

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After winning national first year recruit of the year awards in 2023, when Condon hit .386/.484/.800 and set a Southeastern Conference frosh record with 25 homers, he positioned No. 4 on our preseason Beat 100. He has gotten superior this spring, driving the country in batting (.477), slugging (1.097), OPS (1.680), homers (26 in 40 recreations) and extra-base hits (43) whereas positioning a unimportant third in on-base rate (.583).

Condon has top-of-the-scale crude control that eclipses his progressed hitting capacity. He moreover has appeared more cautious flexibility after playing basically to begin with base a year prior. He has made a few highlight plays at third base and in center field and looked great on the outfield corners, his likely goal as a professional.

“I think two-thirds of the groups would say Condon is the leading player in this Draft, perhaps more,” a scouting official with a National Association group said. “In the event that you were counting the folks at the best of final year’s Draft, I think Wyatt Langford would still be the most excellent fellow. Langford may be a generational player and he’s more hazardous than Condon. But Condon is still a great competitor and they’re lovely comparative as hitters.”

Driven by Condon, the unused Beat 150 starts with five college hitters having beast seasons. Oregon State moment baseman Travis Bazzana tops D-I in on-base rate and positions moment to Condon in OPS whereas raking at a .432/.591/.964 clip with more homers (19) than strikeouts (17). Florida to begin with baseman/left-handed pitcher Jac Caglianone, who driven D-I with 33 homers in 2023 and tied the college record by homering in nine straight challenges this season, is right behind Condon with 25 whereas cutting .410/.503/.888 and lessening his strikeout rate from 18 percent final year to 7 percent.

Wake Timberland to begin with baseman Scratch Kurtz drooped to begin the season and combat a bear damage, at that point went on a domestic run frenzy that included 14 in nine diversions and six in seven at-bats. Texas A&M outfielder Braden Montgomery has driven the Aggies to a No. 1 ranking by batting .370/.510/.890 with 22 homers and a D-I driving 68 RBIs.

The agreement among clubs is that Condon, Bazzana and Caglianone are the three players commendable of the No. 1 generally determination. That choose has a place to the Gatekeepers for the primary time in 60 Drafts and comes with a record alloted choose esteem of $10,570,600.

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“The college hitters are the quality of the Draft and they were going back to last summer,” an American League group official said. “I do ponder how much of these college hitters doing truly well is since college pitching is down. The bats are solid but there’s a shortage of up-the-middle folks.”

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Of the primary 30 spots — connecting to the number of first-round picks — on the Beat 150, 16 have a place to college hitters yet only North Carolina center defender Vance Honeycutt among that bunch could be a quality protector at a premium position. Scouts were energetic to see how West Virginia’s JJ Wetherholt transitioned from moment base to shortstop, but MLB Pipeline’s preseason No. 1 prospect has been waylaid by a hamstring harm for much of the season.

Arkansas left-hander Hagen Smith (who paces D-I with 17 strikeouts per nine innings and a .136 normal against) and Wake Woodland right-hander Chase Burns (the strikeout pioneer with 113 in 62 innings) are clearly the beat two pitchers accessible. The tall school lesson is down this year, in spite of the fact that Jackson Prep (Flowood, Miss.) shortstop/outfielder Konnor Griffin has the finest apparatuses within the Draft and Harvard-Westlake (Studio City, Calif.) shortstop Bryce Rainer is a talented all-around player.

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The ability level drops off rapidly after the finest college hitters additionally Smith, Burns, Griffin and Rainer, which is making a lot of uncertainty approximately how picks 11-30 will play out on July 14 in Fortification Worth, Texas. There are a few quality prep arms driven by Catholic (Baton Rouge, La.) right-hander William Schmidt, Saguaro (Scottsdale, Ariz.) left-hander Cam Caminiti, York (Elmhurst, Sick.) righty Ryan Sloan and Elk City (Okla.) southpaw Kash Mayfield. But groups as a rule are less comfortable taking them within the to begin with circular as restricted to paying them above-slot rewards with afterward choices.

“I can’t keep in mind a Draft with this much vulnerability after the primary 10 or so picks. Not one,” an NL scouting executive said. “It feels like individuals regularly say that and I’m usually the ‘No, it continuously feels like this’ fellow. This one feels really distinctive.”

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Jim Callis could be a correspondent for MLB.com. Take after him @jimcallisMLB. Tune in to him on the weekly MLB Pipeline Podcast

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