Orioles select North Carolina outfielder Vance Honeycutt in 1st round of MLB draft

The Orioles selected University of North Carolina outfielder Vance Honeycutt with the 22^nd pick of the 2024 Major League Baseball draft on Sunday night.

Honeycutt, who’s 21, is the fourth college outfielder picked in the first round of executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias’ six drafts. Heston Kjerstad (2020), Colton Cowser (2021) and Enrique Bradfield Jr. (2023) are the others.

The right-handed hitter hit .293 in his three-year college career at North Carolina.

In 2024, Honeycutt hit .318 with 28 home runs and 70 RBIs in 62 games with a 1.124 OPS. He stole 28 bases in 32 attempts. He struck out 83 times and walked 36 times.

“Without those strikeout numbers, he has the tools to near the top of the draft,” Matt Blood, the Orioles’ vice president of player development and domestic scouting said. “It’s absolutely something that he is going to have to work on and something that we feel with our player development system and the people that we have here it’s something we’re going to work with him on and help him along. He does so many things well, the strikeout rate going along with everything else he does well, it made for a great bet on him.”

Blood couldn’t contain his enthusiasm about Honeycutt.

“For a player like that to get down to where we were picking, we were surprised and we were very, very happy,” he said. “He can do everything. He’s a plus-runner, plus-power, plus-defense. He impacts the game in so many different ways. He’s really, really exciting to watch.”

Blood saw him play multiple times and was surprised the Orioles were able to draft him.

“We thought all along that he was not going to be a player that would get to us,” he said. “He was one of those guys we were dreaming would get to us, but we weren’t going to be too optimistic about it. It happened, so we’re very happy.”

The Orioles selected University of Virginia shortstop Griff O’Ferrall with the 32nd pick, the prospect promotion incentive round. They earned this pick when Gunnar Henderson won the Rookie of the Year award last year.

O’Ferrall hit .344 in three years at Virginia. The 21-year-old from Richmond hit .324 with an .821 OPS this season. He hit five home runs and drove in 52 runs. He stole 17 bases in 21 attempts, walking 22 times and striking out 24 times.

“He’s a gamer. He’s a really good baseball player,” Blood said. “He can impact the game defensively, on the basepaths and he just wreaks havoc with his bat. A ton of line drives, a ton of contact. He’s a really tough out. He’s the kind of guy that fans are going to love. That’s what you see when you see him play.”

The Orioles took a second Virginia player, catcher Ethan Anderson with the 61st pick in the second round. Anderson hit .341 in three years for the Cavaliers. In 2024, the 20 year-old hit .331 with eight home runs and 40 RBIs and a .943 OPS. Anderson drew 40 walks and struck out 32 times.

“He has a very interesting and exciting offensive profile,” Blood said. “Gets on base a ton, makes a lot of quality contact. He’s a switch-hitter and can do a lot of things to impact the game on the offensive side. The defensive side, he wasn’t able to catch as much this year as you probably would have liked, and we’re looking forward to helping him develop into that role.”

The Orioles have never drafted a pitcher in the first round under Elias, and Blood thinks the team should take some pitchers on Monday in rounds 3-10.

“We’re looking for the best player available at each pick,” Blood said. “Sometimes it’s going to be position players. Sometimes it’s going to be pitchers. I would imagine we will draft some pitchers because that’s the way it goes, but I can’t say exactly when that will be.”

Blood was happy with the first day of his first draft.

“We’re extremely excited about this group,” Blood said. “We got three guys that are quality baseball players with a lot of skills and also incredible makeup. All three of these guys are players that their coaches rave about, on and off the field. Not only did we get some high-level baseball players, but we also got some good people.”