Some ups and downs in small sample size first pro year for Honeycutt

If the Orioles are to maintain a highly rated farm system, they will need to keep producing premium prospects. First there were Gunnar Henderson and Adley Rutschman and they sort of turned it over to the likes of Coby Mayo, Jackson Holliday and Samuel Basallo.

The O’s hope more is on the way through their 2024 MLB Draft class. A class headed by their top selection, North Carolina center fielder Vance Honeycutt, who they picked No. 22 overall in July.

On the last day to sign draft picks, which was Aug. 1, he signed a $4 million dollar bonus deal, just over the No. 22 slot amount of $3,802,200.

To say the least, Honeycutt had some adjustments to make to pro ball and had his struggles in a small 13-game sample, eight with Low-A Delmarva and five in early September with High-A Aberdeen.

He went 9-for-51, batting .176/.250/.196/.446. When I interviewed Honeycutt, 21, in early September in Aberdeen, he talked about his first few pro games.

“It’s an adjustment for sure. Just the nature of pro ball – building a routine, starting to understand what you need each day to have your best chance at success,” he said. “I think it’s one of those things that you don’t really know until you get going. Learning those things is beneficial and getting in a few weeks of that this year should benefit the following years.”

He went 7-for-31 with the Shorebirds and 2-for-20 at Aberdeen. He knew yes that was a very small sample, but also that there is plenty to work on.

“I’m taking it in stride, but there is also room for improvement,” Honeycutt told me Sept. 6 at Aberdeen’s Ripken Stadium. “Working on some simple things here and there to clean up some stuff and simplify things a bit. Just some physical things we are working on, nothing major.

“This is a long journey, and it’s not defined by a couple of days,” he said, and he is exactly right about that.

Even during a decorated career at North Carolina, Honeycutt said he was not immune to struggles on offense.

“I think we’re attacking similar things (as he had in the past),” he said. “There are also things we are doing that is a bit new. And what I mean by that - it’s adjustments that, I am just younger and don’t have that experience. The staff has so much more experience and so much more knowledge to be able to give me. It’s all good things. Just exciting to play every single day, it’s a blessing.”

In Honeycutt the O’s have a potential five-tool talent.

He hit a school-record 28 homers last season at North Carolina and his 65 is a career-mark at the school. Scouts grade his speed as 65 on the 20-80 scouting scale and he is considered an elite defender and potential future Gold Glove winner.

Honeycutt told me he realized at an early age how important defense could be.

“From a younger age I always had the skills defensively. I was an infielder for the better part of my life as youngster. But I always knew that defense was important. Then in college it really set in. I thought if you hit, you get on the field. But North Carolina has a philosophy that you have to be able to defend. If you can defend one of those nine spots, you can get on the field.

“I think it definitely became real in college, but early on I did know it was half the game. You have to be able to stop runs just as well as score runs.”

Honeycutt was given just a 40 hit tool by MLBPipeline.com because of a higher strikeout rate in college (27 percent) in 2024. He fanned in 24 of 51 pro at-bats and this will be a focus for him moving forward. He said he already had done some good work with the organization’s hitting coaches to better recognize pitches and pitch shapes.

Baseball America ranks Honeycutt No. 5 on the O’s top 30 list and MLBPipeline rates him as high as No. 3 on their team 30, behind only Coby Mayo and Samuel Basallo.