Charlie Condon joins; Jackson Holliday rakes in Baltimore | Hot Sheet

[Music] a is back Scotty Brun and JJ Cooper plus Ben badler from baseball America it is great to see both of you gentlemen and we do this live every week 3:00 Eastern time on the baseball America YouTube channel and if you're watching afterwards are listening afterward join us sometime say hello ask a question and if it's a good one we'll answer it so before we start today I do want to let everyone know that we've got a pretty VIP guest joining us pretty soon and that is Charlie cond number three overall pick in this past draft by the Colorado Rockies and obviously a total stud in college for Georgia so we're excited to chat with him and I mentioned that also because we will try and get a question or two in there for Charlie from the chat here in YouTube so if you have something for Charlie that you would like to ask then please let us know uh the only way we wouldn't ask it if it's a good question is if JJ Cooper already had it in his own question bank but then we can maybe make it like it's yours well we'll credit them still you know we even if it's question we were gonna ask we'll still give you credit there you go exactly so anyway uh before we get to first move JJ I want to make sure we get some love to the latest edition of baseball America so do you want to give us a little sneak peek what to expect and why people should get a subscription to ba if they don't have one so Bobby Wht Jr is our uh is our cover which pretty uh pretty good timing for that considering the monster month we actually were planning to have him on the cover before he hit almost 500 in July but we're it's our best tools issue where we get gather the best tools best hitter best power best fast ball best speed all those tools for the big leagues but also for every full season minor league as well so a ton of that we also have a ton of other stuff in there we also have a retrospective on the 2019 draft in that first round which man it looks so special just a few years later so a lot to be in there double issue it's jam-packed and it is gone to the printer today so if you order it at baseball am.com it'll be shipped to you very shortly well done and yeah make sure you go get yourself a copy or a subscription and let's get to first move me me [Music] it is time for the junior Camero show to continue Ben batler let's bring you in here too so junior is entering the fold for the second time technically got just a tiny tiny like teacup in the big leagues towards the end of last year but your thoughts on cero entering the show for the raay and also people can you know watch a lot more on the prospect profile that we did but wanted to get you to jump in here since you weren't part of that video yeah Junior Camero he has topof the scale raw power you're going to see Elite exit velocities up there uh with the best hitters in baseball it's a ton of bat speed now it is an aggressive swing it comes with some length to the swing but he has so much bat speed uh that if he gets to a pitch I mean even if it's not a mistake pitch I mean he'll hit he'll hit balls that are out of the strike zone out of the ballpark uh he'll hit balls to you know left field obviously to the pole side deep pull shots but um you know he'll hit Falls to right field like he's a left-handed hitter too so uh curious to see how exactly the approach translates immediately but I think long term he's going to figure it out and has a chance to be a you know potential 40 plus home run type threat down the road and I'm just glad that we're finally seeing him back on the field healthy this has kind of been a little bit of a Lost season for uh for Camano had a quad injury that sidelined him early in the year he tried to come back and then he spent some more on the iil they kind of the Rays had to really kind of shut them down for a while to make sure that that injury fully healed I don't know that we're ever this year GNA see 100% what you expect to see out of Junior cero because that injury really has kind of derailed the season but you're gonna get a nice little taste of it because this guy has been said has some of the best pure power in the game and this kind of gets his feet wet hey the Rays aren't completely out of it uh right now but this also gets him really well established to be kind of a Cornerstone guy for for this club for 2025 and Beyond yeah I know Rays fans are super pumped they've been talking about him all year some some his fans were hoping to see him at the start of the season but whatever it's not the dream year for Tampa Bay they did a lot of selling at the deadline this is the next Great Wave here let's get to sebie Matthews and JJ you can kick things off as he's going to make his debut against Seth Lugo for the twins so your thoughts just really you know give us all the information you have on him and did you expect to see him this season yes I I will say at least now I would say yes we did expect to see this we actually did on July 31st the trade deadline cleared and we said here are eight players who are in the miners we think could provide a post-trade deadline impact with cups and zebie was one of those guys and the reason we highlighted him is because normally when you talk about young really Elite pitching prospects and I would put zebie Matthews in that category you're usually talking about guys who throw hard who have nasty breaking ball you know a really good change up but you're not sure if the control and command is there yet it's going to have to catch up usually in the case of zebie Matthews the stuff keeps getting better but the command and the control is already there it's the best command in control I would argue probably in the minor leagues he walks no one I the stat that blows me away is he doesn't get to a three ball count very often but if he does 92% of the time he throws a strike which kind of tells you one thing right there like you may say okay well yeah he's trying to throw a strike it's a three ball count most pitchers can't do that most pitchers don't have that kind of Zone control where they can be in the zone that often when they face you know when they're behind in the count and by the way normally when we talk about guys with this kind of you know control command and coming up through the miners you're usually talking about a guy that's like well he's 91 92 you hope there's going to be a little bit more there zebie can sit 95 can touch 97 98 there are second Aries here he does have an idea of how to pitch he's a rookie coming up making a a start in a kind of key situation in a uh you know in a big Series so you don't ever want to say oh this is a slam dunk because you can't even say that for veteran pitchers but I do feel very good about zebie Matthews chance to kind of be more ready than most rookies making their debut their Major League debut which is a pretty remarkable story because this is yet another kind of you know later mid round late round wins pitching F they've had so much success in recent years of finding these day two and day three College pitchers usually getting them a little bit more V after they draft them and then see them kind of emerge and develop and credit to the twins they need something like that because obviously they've been kind of ravaged by injuries recently yeah checking out some video here of zebie touching almost 98 in this outing um when he went five innings one run five strikeouts took down 15 of the last 17 batters that he faced for the St Paul Saints now he'll bring that Talent up to the show against Seth Lugo so if you want to play up to some competition it's one of the best pitchers in baseball this year show so it should be fun anyway we'll enjoy that let's get to our guests joining us right now special guest on hot sheet number three overall pick by the Colorado Rockies this year working his way through the minor league system right now and was a star over at Georgia Charlie cond joining us right now Charlie great to have you on how you doing man it's been a little bit of a whirlwind last couple months hasn't it yeah what's up guys how are y'all I appreciate y'all having me on it's been uh it's been good um you know it's been good to um you know after the draft happened to to get out and um join up with the organization and and get to put some names to faces and things like that but it's been it's been good getting settled in Charlie you know for one I just got to say it's always good to talk to a fellow Bulldog I'm a uger you know ug grad but many many years ago now but uh so no dogs but uh but congratulations you know on the last couple years at Georgia but you you obviously it's been told a lot of times but you've kind of had a fascinating path here and I think kind of is one that's kind of inspiring if you're you know if you're a player kind of a younger player coming up if you could just kind of kind of tell people a little bit of your high school to college story and kind of how it did you I guess the way I'd ask it is is when when you were coming out of high school did you know that you had this in you and it just people needed to realize it or was it something where even you had to kind of realize that you had a chance to be one of the best players in college baseball yeah so for me my my my recruiting process is obviously very different from most people's but um for me it was about knowing that my timeline was going to be different from your average D1 commit um you know like growing up playing high level travel ball in an organization like 643 and you're playing against guys and with guys that have boatloads of D1 offers and I have SEC schools um choing up the bid on their phone um and stuff like that so for me it was a lot of people look at at where I am now and are like man how did how did people Miss but for me it was more so that I wasn't really ready to be recruited at the time that a lot of recruiting happens these days um so like my sophomore year of high school I just I was still playing football I was a two sport kid in high school um so I had limited Fall Ball experience to get seen um so it was really just about trusting that I was going to grow late which I did um my Junior and Senior year and knowing that um just being able to compete with guys that were bigger and and More Physical than I was when I was younger just knowing that I was going to eventually grow into my body and and have a shot so a lot of that took um faith in in myself and and being able to buy into that process but then also the people around me that um continued to buy in um to that process with me and and helped me get seen because uh there were there were some people in my corner in high school that that helped me get looks that I I wouldn't have had the the opportunity of Georgia if it wasn't for them Charlie Ben ba here thanks for joining us on the show today you talked about your your recruiting process and like you said going up against uh you know learning to face guys who are bigger and and stronger than you when when you first got to Georgia uh but throughout your your college career what were some of the biggest adjustments uh that you feel like you made especially as a hitter from when you walked on uh campus to you know to where you are today yeah kind of the the the difference of of of being a swinger versus being a hitter um you know like a guy that can um get a good swing off on a pitch if it's given to him but what you learn very quickly in in the SEC and in a lot of high level college baseball is that good pitches to hit don't just really fall in your lap um you kind of got to be able to go out there and have the discipline to work them uh and work for them and then once you get them not missing them um so it just is a lot of reps as far as um being able to get muscle memory down and then um being able to execute when an opportunity Falls in your lap so I would just say the the the ability to to have discipline to get yourself in good leverage counts and then also um understanding that that baseball's something that's really hard to do no matter no matter how good you think you are or how good people think you are um just knowing that it's a game of failure and just just taking everything and stride hey Charlie want to fast forward to the draft so you know many people thought you're the best player in the class he's going to go number one that's not always how the draft Works which is tough to explain sometimes to Casual fans but then everyone's like well if he doesn't go one he's definitely going two you end up going three to Colorado so now that it's passed you got drafted you signed you're in the miners what can you share with us about the play-by-play of what was going through your brain during that whole process you know did were you on the phone with other teams did you think that you were going to go too like tell us anything that you can give us on inside yeah for me it was just about um getting with my people and getting with my family and really sitting down and deciding what we wanted um for me it it wasn't make or break I I want to go first overall or nothing else like for me it was just about finding an opportunity with an organization that that wanted to be with me as much as I wanted to be with them um and so when when when all that was boiled down to it um Colorado was a great fit um you know just as far as um being able to end up in this organization that that does well with power hitting and obviously people talk about hitting at Kors field and things like that which obviously we've got some work to do before we get there um but just knowing that this is a a good a good system to be in um organization that's on the Rise um got a lot of good talent young talent coming up through it I think the the best days ahead are for are coming for the Rockies I like that all right I've been told we have a fan question to mix in here too as many are watching on baseball America's you YouTube channel here's Wesley how does Charlie feel about Fielding every day in that massive Outfield in Denver when he gets to the show what do you think what do you know about it yeah no it's it's a big yard uh you know it kind of has to be with how the ball flies up there and so it's it's a good challenge you know to be able to uh learn how the ball flies out there and and obviously from the hitting side of things but also defensively I mean Ball's going to hang up in the air a long time you got a lot of room to cover out there so it's just a good challenge for me to to get better at my first step and reads and things like that it's something that I'm looking forward to continuing working on getting better at Charlie I love that he asked about Fielding because I I guess I would also ask about you know how fun is it going to be to hit in C's field as as a slugger but I did want to kind of touch on the Fielding because you played a lot of different positions at Georgia you played pretty much kind of all over the field is that kind of something like do you feel comfortable kind of bouncing around or is there a position where you're like you know at the end of the day I feel most comfortable when I'm playing X yeah know it's something I I've taken a lot of pride in as as being a guy especially starting this year with my last year at College just being someone that can move around um and and not be stuck and glued to one spot in the lineup every day I think we cut off and how up and down people that can that can move in um y'all y'all got me sorry think I'm sorry we lost you for a sec do you want to re I think you're yeah you're back and clear now maybe you can rck that one for us yeah no I got you my bad um so yeah just being a guy that takes pride and um being able to play multiple spots and and be a moving piece within a lineup is something that I'm looking forward to doing as long as I can um it's something that keeps me going in practice and and gives me things to work on all the time um you know you can you can never be too good of a Defender um and so when you're bouncing around and and going back and forth from the infield to the Outfield it gives me a lot of things to keep sharp well taking it back to hitting Charlie I mean two of the biggest stories this year uh both in the draft and and just in college baseball where you and and Jack kagley own two you know 65 6 foot6 big Power hitters although both you guys I mean you had almost as many home runs as as you had strikeouts and Jack was another guy who obviously hit for a ton of power while uh while eliminating his strikeouts as well um you know as as a 6 foot6 as a as a really tall hitter are there certain checkpoints that you have in in your swing or or things that you try to be cognizant of or or other uh hitters that you're trying to model your your offensive game after that you know maybe some smaller you know 510 5'11 hitters uh maybe don't have to be as as cognizant of when when they're at the plate yeah for sure just being a taller guy and having longer levers is kind of the term that's used a lot is um it can it can play to your advantage if you know how to use it um so for me it was about being really good at at learning how to use it to my advantage and not letting it tie myself up like there's a lot of things that you have to get down when you're when you when you've got long arms and things like that it can it can create a long swing it can create just casting and coming around the ball and stuff like that so for me it was about learning to to use my levers on the back end of my swing and using my extension as an advant but while also keeping things short and tight and compact to my body in the first half of my swing so just being able to um you know be close to my back shoulder and and still have a direct path to the ball even with my long arms and then once you know once that Barrel kind of turns and gets out front the the extension and and my length that way also just helps me um stay on the ball longer be on plane longer and and and hit for more just just keep the ball and and handle keep the ball in play and and handle the barrel better as well hey Charlie what is the ETA for you in the show whether it's something you've talked to the team about or in your head and keeping in mind how the game has changed I mean we'll see some players that had strong college careers move through the ranks pretty quickly I mean you know Christian Moore who you probably know pretty well is part of an organization that calls players up very quickly in the Angels but any insight either on what you've talked to the team about or what you have in your head yeah for me uh you know there's not a lot of talk about that within the organization for me it's just about day at a time that's when I play my best baseball um so right now I'm focused on the game that we got at 6:35 tonight um and so I'll I'll play that game and then I'll wake up tomorrow and play another one um and so we'll just continue to be the best version of myself um every day that I can be and then that that kind of ETA and um path to the show will take care of itself as long as I'm focus on what's in front of me kind of going back with that Char you mentioned about your travel team and then you obviously playing in the SEC it seems like how well prepared do you feel like you were when you jumped into Pro Bowl obviously it's just a few games now but kind of watching and looking at some of the the guys you faced in the SEC the last couple of years you kind of got a I would imagine a pretty good taste of what you're facing in Pro bow because you were facing especially on Friday Saturday nights guys who you know some of whom are are basically not another big leagues right now yeah no absolutely I think that there's no other conference in college baseball that can prepare you better for professional baseball from at least what I've seen so far um you know I'm a firm believer in the SEC being the the strongest conference in baseball um by a good margin too um and so just knowing that I've seen that and and had success at that level is is comforting for sure but at the same time just because I've got it yall got me yeah yeah it went out it went out again but we got you back we got you back okay okay good yeah just saying like SEC is um you know as good of college baseball as it gets and as as prepared as as someone coming out of the draft can be I'd say um so just knowing that just because I've had success there doesn't mean I'll have success at every level I get to um but just knowing that I've seen and had good I think we're hitting hitting a hiccup again oh no little bit of that minor league Wi-Fi yeah know but hitting you live on the show L got a lot of good time with Charlie there a lot of good time lot of good time Sorry Charlie we lost you there at the end I think you're back again but we we'll let you jump we just had a a few fun quick hitters at the finish line but I think we had a good run but I think it's getting a little fuzzy on the connection so we'll let you jump we'll let you go get ready for the game appreciate the time we'll have you back keep doing your thing out there and thanks for joining us all right Charlie Condon with us on ba hot sheet that was great I just had the fun stuff for the Finish Line you know paying for team dinners and who who's giving you the you know the VIP phone call when you get the the call from the Rockies you know was Todd hton calling somebody like that so anyway it was really good getting into the granular components of the positioning and the obviously you know being a big dude and uh what he brings to the table but any thoughts anything you learned JJ that stood out I don't know if you've interviewed Charlie before I know you've seen him obvious actually that's that's the first time though the first time I've gotten to talk to him and the thing that does jump out that I think is kind of notable to is here is is you talk about a mature approach him knowing when he was a sophomore when he was a junior in high school hey I'm gonna I'm gonna get there but I don't need to I need to be patient I need to not try to speed this up faster there aren't a whole lot of guys who red shirt for a year and then emerge like he did but there's not a whole lot of guys who are comfortable just coming in and red shirting and knowing that that's part of the plan and that was something that really does jump out with Charlie Condon is I think that benefited him he got bigger he got stronger and you see what the benefits are he was our freshman of the year you know for his uh his first season on the field at Georgia and he was our college player of the year in his second year and here he is is one of the top uh you know picks and really one of the top prospects in all of baseball already in Major League you professional baseball so you put all that together patience paid off for Charlie cond and I would agree here Ben Angelo saying good kid he'll be up in the show pretty quick and Smokey saying love Charlie Cleveland missed out well that's where I get interested in storylines Ben is you look at a player like this there were many that said they thought he's the top talent in the draft and he ends up going three and it's hard to conceptualize for people outside of baseball how the system works right and sometimes the people that are not as tuned in to how you bonus pool money Works might actually be correct if Condon ends up being the next big superstar in Major League Baseball then you can forget about all of the you know finagling with later in the draft and say damn we missed out on the best player or best hitter in the draft if you're a fan say of Cleveland or of Cincinnati sometimes it just comes down to that right yeah well I mean and you know they're saying Cleveland missed out to me the team that missed out was Cincinnati picking second overall because for us yeah we had Charlie cond won on our board but it was kind of like a 1A 1B with Conan and and Travis bazana I love Chase Burns but I think you're if I'm Cincinnati it it'd be real hard to pass up on a guy like Charlie Conan who could be a middle of the lineup Force for for years to come um especially given that those two guys him and him and Chase Burns right like they signed for the same bonus again I love Chase Burns I'd rather have Charlie Condon yeah I think a lot of people feel the same way so it's going to be fun we're going to track careers that's what we do here we're going to track careers we'll always remember this storyline let's get to Holiday Adventure because I actually have a question that still ties Condon into the conversation so let's hop on [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] board so we've been following Jackson holiday in his wild ride this year that ends up back in the show he's thriving right now JJ so he's fine don't worry just a little 10 game hiccup in The Bigs like many young superstars deal with when they're early on in their big league career but you know in addition to telling us what you've seen from him in the bigs now JJ I wanted to just mix in the fact that you know Condon could be the top prospect according to baseball America's list by next year right all these guys are kind of moving their way up and getting off the list so it is kind of fascinating by the way I will'll start with with holiday the thing that really impresses me is when you see a guys struggle in that first exposure the key thing you want to see is is can they get better can they fix the problem he was having a problem with high fast balls early there's been a couple of good stories out there just detailing how holiday kind of and the Orioles worked on that it's no longer a problem now great to see a guy who's able to make adjustments that quickly but you look at Jackson holiday graduating James Wood has graduated now we're looking at Junior Ken monero's now now up that's our top three prospects in the game all of them could graduate before the end of the year and if that happens you look at and say okay well who's next and when it comes to the hitters now Jackson job is I think pretty clearly the top pitcher but man it's hard to put a pitcher number one on a on a offseason top 100 nowadays and if you take that away there's no minor league top 25 type Prospect who's having that hey I'm grabbing the ring type number I'm gonna be the number one Prospect type season like Junior Camero did last year like Jackson holiday did last year what James Wood kind of started to do last last year and then really did start first half of this year we don't have that going on in the miners right now so if that's the case I think it does kind of open it up for we we'll see what a Charlie Condon does or what a Travis bazan does or what a even a Christian Moore does but it kind of opens up for this draft class if someone has what I would describe as kind of a Wyatt Langford type finish to this season because Langford destroyed basically multiple levels uh last year and you go whoa well you know check out this if that happen happens this year I could see the argument at least for the possibility that a guy who was drafted this year could end up being our number one Prospect going into next year because it's really a little tougher right now to point to the guy who has a little bit more track record who's having kind of who you're comfortable saying oh that's the clear number one not trying to knock on Dylan Cruz but Dylan Cruz isn't having he's having a good season but he's not having a oh that's the number one Prospect in baseball type season yeah I think JJ makes a good point there's not one hitter right now who you know obvious you know we assume holiday and probably Camero those guys are going to graduate who's who's really especially position player who's going to be an obvious number one Prospect just by the end of the year this year uh you know there's certainly guys who you know we think maybe could make that jump next year like uh a walker Jenkins maybe an Ethan Salis with the Padres turns things around I think Max Clark with the Tigers has that kind of upside maybe Colt Emerson with the Mariners has a I mean I wouldn't say a breakout season it breaks into maybe even another level another tier but um yeah there's not that like obvious uh number one guy like we had with you know with Jackson holiday at this time at this time last year hey let's go to some other you know top end prospects that are high up on the list I don't think they're going to necessarily be number one but I don't want to finish the show without getting to the big three for the red socks moving up the ladder and JJ I think it's cool to have three players move you know together through the minor leagues and and they're saying hey you guys are next but we're not relying on you three one of you alone to get this done Roman Anthony Kyle teal and Marcel Meer they've got something special Brewing they do have something special Brewing there and if you're a regular hot sheet Watcher you may say wait a second is it the big three is at the big four because they Christian Campbell didn't make the jump with them but obviously he's kind of emerged and put him self at least in that discussion as well but no like you look at what the Red Sox have here this is to see a core like this who kind of comes up together who's also really you know kind of all of them performing as well it is pretty exciting and it's G to be interesting to see how quickly those etas are but I would have to imagine may not be opening day 2025 but it's kind of hard to imagine that we're not going to see all three of those at some point next year yeah and then one more for you let's get yes Kevin saying happy Red Sox big three Triple A debut day one more for you this from Justin who's the regular in our F chat as well big white socks fan looking for you know some Talent on the way so Justin asking about Tim Elco could he get called up with the socks in September thoughts on you know what the white socks could get an early look at in September here for the future I I would kind of hope so just it'd be kind of cool to see Tim Elco Tim Elco was a guy who is a Old Miss Legend um kind of came back if I remember correctly played uh at one Point without you know without a working ACL to just kind of keep everything going like Elco was uh a rebel Legend who I don't think will'll have to uh to buy a beer in anywhere in the Oxford area for for many many years to come and it really kind of depends on you know 40-man roster kind of situations and all but this is the white socks I would I would think that there's a chance at least now unfortunately the the changes to the 40-man you know roster rules and now being 20 you know not being the the full expanded 40 Man rosters like it used to be makes it a little tougher but hey this is Chicago there there there's some roster room here to where maybe we can see a guy like Elco get get that nice call up and and that doesn't mean like oh that's the only time he's ever gonna be out but get that kind of a a shot to see what he can do as kind of a you know it's gonna be a bat first kind of profile but let's see maybe we get to see Tim Elco in September there you go and thank you everyone for the questions both for Condon and for JJ and Ben it was a good show great to get Charlie Condon on the show and go through Junior Camero and zebie Matthews there was a lot here so if you missed anything this is posted on the baseball America podcast feed Apple Spotify wherever it's obviously up here on YouTube on demand anytime you want to check it out tell your friends 1 to 3 Eastern or sorry 3:00 Eastern time it's after F territory we take ft fans right over to the ba YouTube channel and get yourself a baseball America subscription have fun watching Junior and zebi and all the debuts coming up and we'll see you next week on Hai I [Music]