Cags not a Golden Spikes finalist?

I'm biased, but the stat comparison (at least between the hitters seems a bit short-sighted). Consider the following (in terms of protection):

BA rank, nationally:
Georgia #30
Oregon State #33
FLORIDA #183

Runs scored, nationally:
Georgia #9
Oregon State #13
FLORIDA #98

Strength of schedule, nationally:
FLORIDA #1
Georgia #9
Oregon State #65

They probably felt pressure to not make it an SEC-only thing, CC with the flashier numbers in isolation.

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you can only have 3.. I would have Cags & Wetherholt(WVU) over Condon. Other 2 are clear top 3 imo.

 

jhf—

Agreed. Nothing against Condon but even a lot of scouts have said he’s a big bat without a real position. I’ve seen him at both third base and first base—he’s average at best with the leather, surely not a head turner.

 

yeah Im more projecting future than just off stats,,which is probably oppossite of the criteria lol Im not even sold on his bat next level, lot of holes in that swing.

 

Yep, everything gets exposed—even the media’s coverage.

 

Yeah, I was leaving Hagen out just because that's a different type of comparison. But if I'm understanding you correctly, you would have Cags, Wetherholt, Bazzana, and Smith as your top 3. I'm assuming Wetherholt's early season absence made him unselectable.

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I stil think Montgomery (aTm) wil be best MLBer of this draft, position player wise. Despite the bad finish to season.

 

LOL CC would be 5th,, hows that? .. Would depend on my needs who i drafted between Cags & W-holt. And probably on W-holt missing start of season,, think he returned around start of conf play though.

 

Conference numbers this year: .368 BA, 1.243 OPS, .724 SLG, .519 OBP, 6 2B, 7 HR, 10 K, 23 BB, 76 AB
Conference numbers last year: .398 BA, 1.156 OPS, .699 SLG, .457 OBP, 7 2B, 6 HR, 7 K, 7 BB, 83 AB

They play a weak non-conference schedule, so it stands to reason he had more missed opportunities for overall stats.

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Ya'll have actually looked at Condon's stats, right? Draft pedigree has nothing to do with the Golden Spikes.

 

Yeah I’m confused as well. Condon is having one of the greatest hitting seasons of all time.

Georgia’s Charlie Condon set the BBCOR-era home run record with 36 blasts and counting in 2024 en route to being named the SEC Player of the Year. The redshirt sophomore sits atop the national leaderboard in several statistical categories, including home runs, batting average (.445), hits (98), slugging percentage (1.036), total bases (228), and OPS (1.602). Condon leads the SEC and ranks sixth nationally with 82 runs scored and sits in the top three in the conference in doubles (20), on-base percentage (.566), and RBIs (77).

USA Baseball Reveals 2024 Golden Spikes Award Finalists | USA Baseball

 

I mentioned my opinions were most likely oppossite of the media criteria,, If just going stats there should rarely ever be a debate on best player. way to many inconsistencies around the country to do that imo.(talent level, park size, weather ,etc) I also think we are experiencing some of the worst pitching in college overall in a long long time. Which waters down my thought on any of the hitters and why Id just give it to Smith.

Im aware of Condon stats, and zero chance he doesnt win it,, still wouldnt be my pick as 'best player'

And bbcor being mentioned is just silly,, were not in same era offensively as when bbcor started, not even close. Current off. numbers rival and surpass gorilla ball era.

 

Their offensive numbers are pretty similar when you look at common opponents:

Condon (23 games): 88 AB, 29 R, 32 H, 31 RBI, 24 BB, 18 K, 6 2B, 14 HR, .364 BA, .909 SLG, .504 OBP, 1.414 OPS
Cags (27 games): 103 AB, 31 R, 41 H, 24 RBI, 21 BB, 9 K, 1 2B, 15 HR, .398 BA, .845 SLG, .519 OBP, 1.364 OPS

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They sure are. Cags is pretty special too. However, that just a subset of the games. And if you look at the per game stats in that sample, Condon becomes the leader in R and HR. Impressive stuff to be better than Cags in any hitting category, let alone most of them.

 

What accounts for the inflated numbers if not the bats?

 

This is true, I've posted data on this (not sure if this board or another). Can't just call the late 90's "gorilla ball era" as dismissive when compared to recent years.

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I don't want to belabor the point other than the idea that it's fun/interesting to discuss the nuances. I have no hard feelings for Condon or any of the other finalists or even the people doing the decision making. Just fun to analyze and over-analyze.

When you talk about things like runs and rbi and, to some extent, hr, that depends on other players on your team. To that point, these are the stat differences between the rest of the team FLORIDA vs. Georgia (overall, not just the common opponents):

Georgia: .288 BA, .537 SLG, .419 OBP, .956 OPS
FLORIDA: .255 BA, .471 SLG, .359 OBP, .829 OPS

And it is just a subset of the games, but Georgia didn't face the #1 and #6 pitching SEC teams for weekend series; FLORIDA didn't face the #11 and #13 pitching teams.

I suspect the committee couldn't overlook the biggest separator in greatness, and that is the fact that Cags didn't hit a triple this year. You look at the other finalists:

Smith: 0 triples allowed
Condon: 1 triple
Bazzana: 4 triples
Cags: 0 triples allowed, but he also did not hit a triple...devastating blow in the offensive comparison

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