On Saturday afternoon, Charlie Condon hit a home run off Texas A&M starter Tanner Jones. Condon, who’d already reached on a fielder’s choice and scored earlier in the inning, put Georgia up 9-0 on the Aggies in the top of the first inning. Even on the road against the no. 1 team in the country, a nine-run first-inning lead seems like a good omen. Unfortunately for Condon, Jace LaViolette homered in the bottom of the first, and Braden Montgomery added a dinger in the bottom of the third. After one inning, the Aggies had cut the lead to 9-8; by the seventh, they’d scored 19 unanswered runs, enough to invoke the SEC’s mercy rule and end the game. (This was the first game of a doubleheader, by the way, and there were 17 runs in the first inning.) Condon, LaViolette, and Montgomery are engaged in a historic five-player home run chase.
As recently as 2015, Andrew Benintendi of Arkansas wowed the country by leading Division I with 20 home runs. In 2024, 13 players ended April with at least 20 home runs. The top five home run hitters in Division I are, perhaps not so coincidentally, also the top five players in home runs per game.
| Player | School | HR | G | HR/G |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charlie Condon | Georgia | 30 | 44 | 0.68 |
| Jac Caglianone | Florida | 26 | 44 | 0.59 |
| Lyle Miller-Green | Austin Peay | 26 | 44 | 0.59 |
| Jace Laviolette | Texas A&M | 23 | 45 | 0.51 |
| Braden Montgomery | Texas A&M | 23 | 45 | 0.51 |
Condon leads of the bunch; he just became Georgia’s all-time career home run leader a little more than halfway through his sophomore season. But by virtue of having redshirted in 2022, he is eligible for the draft, and has played his way — along with Caglianone and a few others — into the conversation for the top overall pick. My longstanding dislike for spending high picks on first basemen being what it is, these guys could be the exception that proves the rule.
For starters, Condon has played more outfield than first this year, and Caglianone — in addition to having plus-plus power — is also one of the top left-handed pitchers in the draft. And they’re on a different level of physicality from the likes of Spencer Torkelson and Andrew Vaughn. Condon is 6-foot-6, 216 pounds. Caglianone, at 6-foot-5, 245, is in that proud tradition (after Pete Alonso and Mike Zunino) of Gators sluggers who spend all offseason in the squat rack. LaViolette (6-foot-5, 228) is a big fella as well, though he’s not draft-eligible this year.
