Every minute of the day is precious for new Georgia baseball coach Wes Johnson.

Considering all the work he and his staff have to do to fill out their roster, recruit, and prepare for whatever scenario may arise as a result of next week’s Major League Draft, that should not come as a surprise.

“We’re running through guys, searching the portal for some players to add to the roster, bringing them on campus on visits,” Johnson said in a telephone interview with UGASports. “We’ve got Josh Simpson and Brock Bennett beating down the paths out there, recruiting the '24 class and starting to look at the '25 class, while Will Coggin and I have been back here handling the visits with the guys coming in from the portal, and just connecting with our players. Our freshmen actually got on campus yesterday for summer school, so meeting them in person, meeting their parents, things like that.”

According to Johnson, of the 16 players signed by the Bulldogs, 10 are currently on campus with two more potentially still to arrive.

Ensuring there will be no shortage of talent when Georgia begins its first season under Johnson is why the Bulldogs have been one of the more active teams in the portal.

Currently, 11 players have joined Georgia from other programs, notably former Baylor infielder Kolby Branch and Sam Houston All-American outfielder Joe Redfield.

The remaining players who have publicly acknowledged they’re transferring to Georgia all had significant success at their previous schools. That list includes catcher Weston Eberly (Columbia), pitcher Brian Zeldin (Penn), infielder Luke Farris (Western Kentucky), infielder Slate Alford (Mississippi State), outfielder Clayton Chadwick (Sam Houston), outfielder Dylan Goldstein (Florida Atlantic), outfielder Logan Jordan (Campbell), infielder John Marant (College of Central Florida). and pitcher Daniel Padysak (Charleston Southern).

Apparently, there’s more to come.

“We’re really excited, and we’re not done with that. There are a couple more guys who are still coming in, but what we’ve done right now I’m pretty excited about,” Johnson said. “Last year the teams that were old, played really well. Not that we’re trying to be the oldest team in the league, but getting some veteran experience, getting guys who have some at-bats under their belt, whether it be in the Big Ten, our league, or in some other really good mid-major conferences, those at-bats are huge.

“We’ve been able to bring in some young men with some experience, quite a few at-bats under their belt, a couple of arms that I like that have a lot of experience; one guy will really help us on the back end, and one who will really help us on the weekends.”

Johnson said he expects to add one, perhaps two pitchers to the group.

“I’m not going to get pinned down on that number. Maybe one or two more just to keep it there,” he said. “If something else happens, we’ll see. But maybe one more, maybe two if it’s the right guy.”

Much will depend on what happens with the Major League Draft, which gets underway with the first round Sunday night. The 20-round draft will conclude on Tuesday.

Several Bulldogs from last year’s squad hope to hear their names called. That list includes pitcher Jaden Woods, who is projected to be the first Bulldog off the board. Then there's fellow pitcher Liam Sullivan, with infielder Parks Harber, catcher Fernando Gonzalez, and catcher Corey Collins other possibilities.

All could get picked and moved on, or some, depending on when they’re selected, could elect to return.

Johnson said the Bulldogs are prepared for whatever happens.

You must protect your floor, so to speak, where you stand. We haven’t completely recruited over those guys, although we have a couple of pieces coming in where we can say, yeah, this protects us. It won’t leave us completely empty if all these guys sign,” Johnson said. “It’s a little tougher in baseball, because of your 11.7 (scholarships available for baseball). Everybody knows the deal, and those guys are really good players. They're draft worthy and they’ve got really good heads on their shoulders. It’s quite frankly a situation where you’ve got to see how it shakes out.”

Making the timing even more difficult for coaches and players alike is the fact the deadline for entering the portal and playing next spring is July 13.

According to Johnson, because of the draft, he expects many players to wait until the last minute to see how the draft plays out before jumping in the portal by the deadline.

“We’re bringing in a lot of kids this week, and probably half of them are like we’re going to wait and see what happens in the draft,” Johnson said. “The thing that really drags it out, they (Major League teams) can look at you and say hold off, wait until the last day you can sign, and let us see how much money we have left over. There will be a quick hit, but then there will be a little hiccup again.”

Johnson said Charlie Goldstein’s decision to remove his name from the portal and return to Georgia was as big as it gets.

“I don’t know if words can describe the importance of that. I don’t know if I have the adjective for that … big, huge, something like that,” Johnson said. “I had a left-hander this past year and he threw a lot in Omaha, Riley Cooper, and Charlie is that. Riley started for us. He started on the weekends in the conference and threw a lot of innings in conference weekends. Those guys, guys like that are borderline the glue of your staff because they can do so much.

Don’t get me wrong, Charlie is going to be given every opportunity to start and be that guy on the weekends. But huge, big … pick a cool adjective and throw it out there. That’s what it meant for me to get him back.”

Johnson considers himself a lucky man.

After getting an up-close look at Dylan Crews – perhaps the No. 1 pick in the MLB Draft – knowing he’ll be working with Charlie Condon next season is as good as it gets.

“I told people this before I got this job. We played Georgia the last weekend of the regular season and I had somebody ask me about Charlie Condon and I said he was the best right-handed hitter I’ve seen besides Dylan Crews,” Johnson said. “That was through video. We were breaking down his tape, trying to figure out how to pitch to him. He was very impressive.”

Currently one of the top hitters for Team USA’s Collegiate National Team, Condon is coming off a year as a redshirt freshman that saw him hit ..386 with 25 home runs and 67 RBIs.

“When I was with Minnesota, we had Luis Arraez who won the batting title last year. I had Luis from 2019, 2020, and 2021. I saw his growth,” said Johnson, who served three-plus seasons as the pitching coach for the Minnesota Twins. “I was able to be around guys like Carlos Correa and Byron Buxton, Jorge Polanco and Josh Donaldson, Mitch Garver, who was the Silver Slugger winner at catcher. In 2019, we broke the major league record for home runs in a single season. I’ve been around guys like Nelson Cruz and have been able to draw from the experience of being around those great hitters.”

It's that experience of being around such accomplished big-league hitters where Johnson believes he can help Condon deal with the expectations that no doubt will be heaped upon him next year.

“There’s a lot of pressure that comes with being labeled “that guy” and how to deal with some of that because at the big-league level, those names I mentioned, people expect many things out of them,” Johnson said. “Just how those guys show up and stay consistent with their work, and stay consistent with their mental approach, their playing, and how they deal with all those expectations. But I think it’s going to be a lot of fun. I do mean that. I think (Condon) will be the best right-handed bat available next year without question.”