Scottsdale, Ariz. – The Colorado Rockies invited 20 non-roster players to join Major League camp this year. Chief among them is their 2025 No. 2 prospect
Charlie Condon (No. 2 Mid-Season PuRP).The IF/OF was drafted third-overall in the 2024 MLB Draft out of the University of Georgia and has had a meteoric rise through the system. He finished 2025 in Double-A Hartford before being selected to the Arizona Fall League. While in the AFL, Condon was also selected as a Fall Star and as the winner of the Dernell
Stenson Sportsmanship Award winner. (In case you’re wondering, he said he put the award “on a dresser in [his] bedroom” but is also hoping to “one day…expand the trophy closet a little more.”)
This year, he made his debut in big-league camp.
“It’s great,” Condon said last weekend of his initial experience. “[It’s] just nice to be around the guys of the big-league group. They’ve been very welcoming to me so far. It’s been a good experience…I know all the guys here are really excited to work.”
Condon has been using the time to get to know all of the teammates he might start playing alongside soon.
“There have been a handful of guys that I’ve overlapped with in the minor league system here,” Condon said, “but just getting to know the guys that I haven’t played with yet [and] getting to know some of the new guys that we brought in this offseason…we’ve got a good group of position players. Just hanging out at first base the past couple of days, we’ve got some great guys over there. So it’s been fun to continue to get to know the guys I have played with and create relationships with the guys I haven’t.”
In addition to meeting his teammates, Condon is also eager to try out some of his offseason adjustments.
“I just worked on adjustability at the plate,” he said. “I brought my hands up a little bit higher to feel a little bit more of a natural turn.
“I felt like I hit well in the Fall League for average, but it’s got to kind of get that OPS and better ball flight [and] kind of feeling more of a natural turn in my swing. So hopefully that’ll lead to some more power production this year and things like that. But other than that, just getting stronger, staying healthy and being ready to go for today.”
In addition to his own personal adjustments, he’s also staying ready for the Rockies in whatever position they might need him to play – either strictly at first base or in the outfield.
“I’m kind of day-to-day wherever they need me,” he said.
“The majority of my work has been at first base recently, but I still get out in the outfield and shag some balls during BP. [I] keep getting routes in and things like that so the corner outfields are never foreign to me, so [I’m] just keeping those in my back pocket. Wherever they need me – I feel comfortable at first base, I feel comfortable in the corner outfields, and [I’ll] just keep going from there.”
Condon is most looking forward to “the challenge” of big league camp.
“I feel like this is the best competition I’m going to have seen so far in my career, and I’m excited for it,” he said, smiling.
“I feel like I’ve shown well against some of the other competition in the minor leagues, but [this is] as high as you can get to face the best competition you can. I’m excited about that, and I’m excited about growing closer with this group of guys as well.”
And most of all, he – like many others – is taking note of the clubhouse vibes.
“Obviously I wasn’t in big league camp last year, but there feels to be a different energy amongst the guys around here with the new leadership that we have,” he said. “There’s a lot of optimism, which is great. I think we’ve got some people in the right places and [we’re] just going to continue to keep moving forward and pushing the rock a little bit further.”
After being lauded as “insular” for many years, the Rockies are doing things differently this year — they’re opening camp up. On Tuesday, they sent out footage of a base-running drill; yesterday, they were very intentional about showing the media what a ‘day in the life’ looks like under the new regime. Schaeffer and DePodesta have said repeatedly that they value transparency and communication — and this is more proof of that.
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