The Orioles announced Thursday morning that they’ve signed first-round pick Vance Honeycutt. The UNC outfielder, selected with the No. 22 overall pick, was the last remaining unsigned first-round pick after ECU righty Trey Yesavage — the No. 20 overall selection — agreed to terms with the Blue Jays less than an hour ago. Honeycutt will take home a $4MM bonus, reports Jim Callis of MLB.com, which sits a bit north of his $3.802MM slot value.
Honeycutt, 21, played three seasons for the Tar Heels and batted a combined .293/.412/.638 during his NCAA career — including a massive .318/.410/.714 batting line and 28 home runs during his junior season. Those 28 round-trippers tied him with No. 1 overall pick Travis Bazzana for seventh in all of Division-I baseball.
The 6’3″, 205-pound Honeycutt has clear raw power, and in spite of his gaudy batting line it’s his defensive acumen for which he draws the most praise. He’s a two-time ACC Defensive Player of the Year who scouts believe can stick in center field while showing plus range and a plus arm. Eye-catching as his 28 homers and hefty slash stats were throughout his career, Honeycutt has regularly punched out at a high rate, including during his junior season when he went down on strikes in 27.5% of his plate appearances. He still drew walks at a strong 11.9% clip, but the frequent punchouts have created a relatively wide range of opinions.
Baseball America, for instance, ranked him as the draft’s No. 13 prospect. Other outlets weren’t all so bullish. MLB.com listed him 22nd. ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel ranked him 25th. Keith Law of The Athletic tabbed him as the No. 41 prospect, and FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen ranked him 42nd. That still makes him one of the consensus top position players in the draft and a clear Day 1 talent, but Honeycutt’s shaky contact skills create a broad range of offensive outcomes, even as his power, speed and defensive aptitude give him a reasonable floor. Callis and colleague Jonathan Mayo perhaps put it best in their scouting writeup for MLB.com: “How much Honeycutt hits will determine if he becomes Drew Stubbs or better than that.”