The Orioles introduced Thursday morning that they’ve signed first-round choose Vance Honeycutt. The UNC outfielder, chosen with the No. 22 total choose, was the final remaining unsigned first-round choose after ECU righty Trey Yesavage — the No. 20 total choice — agreed to phrases with the Blue Jays lower than an hour in the past. Honeycutt will take dwelling a $4MM bonus, studies Jim Callis of MLB.com, which sits a bit north of his $3.802MM slot worth.
Honeycutt, 21, performed three seasons for the Tar Heels and batted a mixed .293/.412/.638 throughout his NCAA profession — together with an enormous .318/.410/.714 batting line and 28 dwelling runs throughout his junior season. These 28 round-trippers tied him with No. 1 total choose Travis Bazzana for seventh in all of Division-I baseball.
The 6’3″, 205-pound Honeycutt has clear uncooked energy, and regardless of his gaudy batting line it’s his defensive acumen for which he attracts essentially the most reward. He’s a two-time ACC Defensive Participant of the Yr who scouts imagine can stick in middle area whereas displaying plus vary and a plus arm. Eye-catching as his 28 homers and hefty slash stats had been all through his profession, Honeycutt has commonly punched out at a excessive charge, together with throughout his junior season when he went down on strikes in 27.5% of his plate appearances. He nonetheless drew walks at a powerful 11.9% clip, however the frequent punchouts have created a comparatively wide selection of opinions.
Baseball America, for example, ranked him because the draft’s No. 13 prospect. Different retailers weren’t all so bullish. MLB.com listed him twenty second. ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel ranked him twenty fifth. Keith Regulation of The Athletic tabbed him because the No. 41 prospect, and FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen ranked him forty second. That also makes him one of many consensus prime place gamers within the draft and a transparent Day 1 expertise, however Honeycutt’s shaky contact expertise create a broad vary of offensive outcomes, at the same time as his energy, pace and defensive aptitude give him an affordable ground. Callis and colleague Jonathan Mayo maybe put it greatest of their scouting writeup for MLB.com: “How a lot Honeycutt hits will decide if he turns into Drew Stubbs or higher than that.”
