Making the Case: SEC Player of the Year Christian Moore
There’s been some really good baseball in the Southeastern Conference this season. There always is, but three players in particular have stolen the show.
Tennessee’s Christian Moore, Georgia’s Charlie Condon and Florida’s Jac Caglianone have been far and away the best players at the plate this season in the best league in college baseball. All three will receive national praise following the season and will be high draft picks this summer, but only one can be named SEC Player of the Year when it’s all said and done.
Each have a case and are very well deserving, but only two have really been in the discussion for the league’s most coveted honor. Here’s why Moore should be getting some more love in this regard and why he honestly might have the best case.
As Billy Chapel would say, we count everything in baseball. So, on to the numbers we go.
Tennessee 2B Christian Moore
Overall Stats (54G): .384 AVG | 26 HR | 59 RBI | 61 R | 13 2B | 37 SO | 23 BB | .450 OBP | .806 SLG
SEC Stats (28G): .424 AVG | 19 HR | 40 RBI | 34 R | 6 2B | 24 SO | 6 BB | .455 OBP | .928 SLG
Moore’s overall stat line is very impressive but when you narrow it down to league games only, he’s leading the pack in several categories at the plate. The question voters must regard with Moore and the two others when it comes to SEC POY is this – is it strictly conference games or an overall body of work? It’s likely the latter, but if its damage done inside league play, Moore has an excellent case and the best case at present standing.
In SEC games only, the junior leads the league in average (.424), home runs (19) and RBI (40) – an SEC only Triple Crown Award winner at current state. That’s incredible and something not easily done in this conference. Moore is second in slugging percentage (.928) as well and is doing all of this from the leadoff spot in the order while fielding at a .972 clip at the keystone.
“I think he should be,” Vols coach Tony Vitello said Thursday when asked if Moore should be in contention for SEC POY. “I think what you want is to continue to have success and play as long as you can and to keep getting better and Christian Moore is definitely doing that… It’s nice for our program and other guys are making him better and there’s days, too, where goes out and does it and makes it even easier on other guys.”
Likely not to be taken into consideration for the Player of the Year Award in this league, but Moore holds both the Tennessee career home run and single season home run records. He’s tallied four leadoff home runs in the first inning this season and registered four multi-homer games in 2024.
Making the SEC POY case: Moore owns the best hitting numbers in SEC play amongst the trio and this is a conference award, right?
Georgia 1B/3B/OF Charlie Condon
Overall Stats (51G): .454 AVG | 34 HR | 72 RBI | 77 R | 18 2B | 37 SO | 49 BB | .571 OBP | 1.077 SLG
SEC Stats (28G): .413 AVG | 18 HR | 38 RBI | 41 R | 10 2B | 21 SO | 27 BB | .540 OBP | 1.000 SLG
Condon’s numbers are just absurd, both overall and in SEC play.
It’s hard to be critical when comparing him to Moore or Caglianone, but he’s NOT leading the conference (in league play) in average, home runs or runs batted in despite leading the nation in the two prior categories. He’s played across the diamond at times while only committing three errors on the year. It’s truly hard to believe he was a redshirt in his first season in college baseball. Condon does lead the conference (in league games only) with a 1.000 slugging percentage, on-base plus slugging and is probably the favorite to win the National Player of the Year awards.
Making the SEC POY case: The overall stats are out of this world and clearly better than the other two. Condon leads the nation in a handful of hitting categories.
Florida 1B/DH/LHP Jac Caglianone
Overall Stats (52G): .412 AVG | 28 HR | 55 RBI | 62 R | 3 2B | 20 SO | 39 BB | .524 OBP | .849 SLG
SEC Stats (28G): .369 AVG | 14 HR | 25 RBI | 28 R | 1 2B | 11 SO | 25 BB | .511 OBP | .786 SLG
Caglianone has been special for years and he’s been nothing short of special in 2024 as well.
Though incredible, his batting stats are far less than both Moore and Condon in league games only. He does have the advantage over Moore with a higher on-base and slugging percentage inside conference play, but is still behind Condon in both categories. What’s wild is that Caglianone has only struck out 11 times in conference play.
You look at the body of work on the mound for the southpaw and it, too, is impressive. Though his bat will get him drafted in the top-three this summer, Caglianone has contributed a 5-1 record with a 4.07 ERA in 12 starts this season with 66 strikeouts and 40 walks. You break that down into conference games only, the lefty is 3-1 with a 4.84 ERA in nine starts with 39 strikeouts and 32 walks. Hardly Cy Young worthy, but still impressive as a two-way player.
But should his pitching stats even be in the conversation for SEC POY? There’s another award for that, right? Still, it is the value of the voter and what they deem important. He’s a stud either way.
Making the SEC POY case: Caglianone is college baseball’s version of Shohei Ohtani. So impressive, but how much should pitching count towards the POY award?
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