Early last week there were murmurings coming from Colorado Rockies camp. Charlie Condon — the 2024 third-overall selection out of the University of Georgia — was injured. Even worse, the Rockies allegedly feared it was significant.

Last Friday the injury was confirmed. However, said injury was much less severe than anticipated. Condon suffered from a non-displaced fracture to his left wrist when he rolled his hand underneath his body attempting to make a diving catch during the first minor league spring training game of the spring.

Condon’s injury is classified as a radial styloid fracture—a break in the styloid process of the thicker wrist bone known as the radius. The styloid process is the small, jutting out portion at the very end of the bone closest to the hand.

While there is still some concern—Condon is a right-handed batter and uses his left hand as his driving hand to generate power in his swing—this is about as best-case a scenario an injury can be. Due to the non-displaced nature of the fracture, Condon won’t need surgery to put anything back into place and there was also no ligament or soft tissue damage sustained.

“It’s probably the best-case scenario,” director of player development Chris Forbes said, “in the sense that we knew it was a fracture and we were hoping it was a non-displaced fracture, and that was confirmed this morning. The ligament damage was what we were hoping to avoid, and we did.”

Condon will need to wear a splint for roughly four weeks and can resume baseball activities in six weeks after a period of strengthening and physical therapy. He’ll be back in May if all goes well.

Rockies fans will, unfortunately, have to wait for Condon’s 2025 season to start after a poor showing in 2024 left them with concerns about the consensus no. 2 overall organizational prospect and MLB Pipeline’s no. 29 league prospect.

Condon hit just .180/.248/.270 with one home run, one triple, and four doubles through 25 games with the High-A Spokane Indians to start his professional career in 2024. He also struggled with strikeouts, striking out at a 34% clip, and drew only four walks in his short stint with the Indians.

The 2024 Golden Spikes Award winner, Dick Howser Trophy Winner, and SEC Player of the Year looked a far cry from the hitter that broke the all-time NCAA BBCOR home run record. However, it was far too early to hit the panic button. Not only were Condon’s poor numbers in High-A indicative of the difficult adjustment between college baseball and professional baseball, there was something else afoot… Or rather, ahand.

Condon played his first professional season with a bone spur in his right ring finger—a problem he was already dealing with before the end of the college season—that required him to alter his bat grip and swing mechanics.

He didn’t report the injury originally and chose to play through the pain due to his “competitive nature.”

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen a Rockies prospect not report an injury.

After he appeared in the 2022 Futures Game, outfield prospect Zac Veen saw a significant downturn in performance. In June of 2023, it was revealed that he had been playing through significant ligament damage in his left wrist in order to pursue his big league debut. Veen finally yielded to surgery and returned for the 2024 minor league season. Now on the 40-man roster, Veen is fighting for—and potentially winning—a spot on the 2025 Opening Day roster.

Condon had the bone spur surgically removed this off-season and was considered fully recovered once he arrived at camp.

“I’m here to show myself,” Condon said when he arrived. “I’m here to flash the hit tool, flash the power tool, show the defensive versatility that I have in my bag. But I want to be myself, continue to grow as a player, create relationships with teammates, get to know guys throughout the organization, grow closer as a group but also as an individual.”

While Rockies faithful will have to wait a few more months to see Condon play, they shouldn’t be too worried. Condon has already recovered from one injury and has a clear path forward in his recovery from his broken wrist. When put in the perspective of a long campaign, he won’t be missing significant time either.

When Condon returns in May—healthier than he had been at the end of his final college season—he will have new opportunities to flash the skills that made him such a tantalizing pick to the Rockies organization in 2024.

“I feel like I don’t have to prove anything to anyone,” Condon said. “I know who I am, I know what I’ve done and I know what I’m capable of doing in the future.”

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Rox young sluggers aim to bring pop back to Coors Field | MLB.com

Jim Callis of MLB Pipeline discusses the Rockies’ prospects and their possible power potential portending positive production. Key highlights include the (unfortunately injured) Charlie Condon, as well as Robert Calaz, Benny Montgomery, Kyle Karros, and Zac Veen.

1 player from each team making the biggest impression | MLB.com

MLB breaks down one player from each camp making the biggest impression so far in spring training, and the player for the Rockies is none other than non-roster invitee outfielder Nick Martini. Martini currently holds a .387 batting average and a .513 on-base percentage. As Renee Dechert pointed out yesterday, Martini has a clear shot at the Opening Day roster and has earned the endorsement of the coaching staff.

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