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With the 22nd overall pick in the 2024 MLB Draft, the Baltimore Orioles have selected Vance Honeycutt. He’s a third-year centerfielder out of the University of North Carolina.
Baltimore announced the pick on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Honeycutt is coming off of a 48-16 season with the Diamond Heels in 2024. He slugged .318/.410/.714 with 28 home runs and 70 RBIs in the 62 appearances.
RotoBaller’s Eric Cross described the 21-year-old slugger as a prospect with “big time power” and “speed upside.”
“LOVE this pick,” Cross tweeted on July 14. “There are some hit tool concerns here but big time power/speed upside and lands in Baltimore organization. #Birdland”
In a column titled “Six Polarizing Prospects in the 2024 MLB Draft Class” for Baseball America, Carlos Collazo wrote that Honeycutt is a high upside, big risk pick.
“…Honeycutt has arguably the highest upside along with the biggest risk of any player in contention to go in the first round,” Collazo wrote on July 12. “He has almost every tool teams look for. Honeycutt has big power–he is North Carolina’s all-time home run leader (61)–and perhaps even greater speed. He is the first Division 1 player to hit more than 60 career homers and steal more than 70 bags. He’s also a two-time ACC Defensive Player of the Year.”
Good pitchers often take as long as three years to make it to MLB. Good batters can usually make it in two. Look for Honeycutt in an Orioles uniform no earlier than 2027.
Orioles Prepared for Cedric Mullins’ Departure
After drafting Enrique Bradfield Jr. in 2023, and Honeycut in 2024, the Orioles are prepared for Cedric Mullins’ eventual departure.
The 29-year-old centerfielder is in his seventh season with Baltimore. Mullins will enter free agency following the 2025 season.
Bradfield is currently playing with the High-A affiliate, Aberdeen Ironbirds. He’s batting .276/.351/.375 with 3 home runs, 19 RBIs, and 45 stolen bases in 2024.
But he’s a left-handed hitter, as is Mullins. Should the Orioles choose to go a different direction, Honeycutt gives them an right-handed batting option to eventually put in centerfield.
Both prospects are speedsters on the bag. There’s no question of Baltimore’s intentions on maintaining Mullins’ speed. He has 109 career stolen bases in MLB.
Mike Elias:
General Manager Mike Elias spoke with reporters on July 13 to recap the first half of the season.
He was also asked about Coby Mayo, the Orioles’ third-ranked prospect, and Jackson Holliday, the first-ranked prospect as potential contributors in the second half of the season.
He called their chances, “very good.”
“I think both of those players have a very good chance of contributing heavily to the 2024 Orioles, and I could see them doing it at the same time too,” Elias said, according to MLB.com’s Jake Rill.
Holliday spent 10 games with Baltimore in April for his debut MLB stint. He batted .059/.111/.059 with 18 strikeouts.
Elias was especially emphatic about Mayo, saying the 22-year-old third baseman is “very close.”
“He’s in an exceptionally good spot,” Elias said, according to Rill. “We talk about him all the time. He’s very close. He’s going to help us this year. It’s just about the right moment and the right opportunity and the right runway for something like that to happen, and there’s moving parts…“The fact I’m talking about him at a press conference right now — he’s right there. We’re thinking about it, we’re working on it. I’m sure it’s coming very soon.”
Mayo has yet to make his MLB debut. He’s slugging .297/.380/.606 with 19 home runs and 56 RBIs with the Norfolk Tides.
Baltimore’s farm system grows even richer with the addition of Honeycutt.
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