Orioles minor league report: Vance Honeycutt not hiding from rough start

Vance Honeycutt didnt hesitate when asked about his first full professional season and what hes learned about himself.This game punches you in the face, the 22-year-old outfielder said matter-of-factly.

Learn how to respond, learn how to deal with it.

Being able to work through that and come out on the other side a better player, a better person, and just trying to do that.Honeycutt entered the season as one of the Orioles highest-rated prospects after he was selected No.

22 overall in the 2024 draft.

Hes ending it not even ranked inside Baltimores organizational top 30, according to Baseball America and MLB Pipeline.The UNC standout possesses tools as loud as any Orioles prospect.

His combination of plus power, speed and defense made him a compelling pick for Baltimore toward the end of the first round.

It wasnt without its risks, though.

Honeycutt put up eye-popping college stats, but his 27.5% strikeout rate as a junior was much higher than most players drafted early.Thus far, those concerns have loomed large in professional ball.

In 96 games this season for High-A Aberdeen, Honeycutt is hitting .168 with a .546 OPS and a 40.9% strikeout rate.Despite his struggles, Honeycutt remains confident hell snap out of this funk and be a better player for it.You cant run from it, you cant hide from it, Honeycutt said two weeks ago at Ripken Stadium.

You dont want it to go like this, but its also a big learning opportunity.

Definitely tougher, definitely understand the little things that you need to remind yourself of throughout the season in order to flush it quick.I know what I bring to the table, he continued.

It hasnt changed just because its been a bad year.

Its nothing that cant be fixed over time, right?Matt Blood, the Orioles vice president of player development and domestic scouting, was in his first year leading the clubs draft room in 2024 when he selected Honeycutt.

In July, Blood said the Orioles knew going in that it was going to take time for Honeycutt to adjust to professional ball.Picking where we were picking and knowing the talent pool of the group that was available to us, its just what was going to happen, Blood said about Honeycutt and the other hitters taken on Day 1 of the 2024 draft.

Players go out and sometimes they play a little better, sometimes they play a little worse, but I know for a fact Ive been there, Ive seen it, Ive talked to them that theyre not giving up.

...

Its not linear.

Sometimes it doesnt happen overnight.Zach Cole, the IronBirds hitting coach, said its often difficult for hitting prospects to adjust to High-A is where pitchers begin to pair plus stuff with some level of pitchability.

While most Orioles top prospects didnt struggle to the degree Honeycutt has, most of them did hit a speed bump in High-A.

Gunnar Henderson hit .230 with Aberdeen.

Colton Cowser hit .228 in his first 33 games with the IronBirds, whose home stadium is the definition of a pitchers park.

Coby Mayo hit .231 in his first 44 games at the level.We talk about it all the time, Cole said.

This is where pro ball really starts to get real.

Adjustments are going to have to be learned.

Youre going to see how hard it is and how you need to make adjustments.A photo of Vance Honeycutt is shown on the video board after Honeycutt was selected 22nd overall by the Orioles in the first round of the 2024 MLB draft.

Honeycutt's strikeout struggles from college have continued at the professional level.

(LM Otero/AP file)One of those adjustments for Honeycutt is the incorporation of a toe tap in his swing.

The right-handed hitters swing featured a leg kick while he was in college, but hes struggled with his timing throughout this season.

Cole said the toe tap can help keep Honeycutt relaxed in the box, while Honeycutt said its helped him simplify his swing.Pitching is better now, so if you need to make a lesser move in order to have it more consistent and be on time more often, then thats kind of what youre going for.

I think thats kind of what Ive been hunting, Honeycutt said.

For me, it kind of stems from timing.

Timing has kind of been wishy-washy this year, but its what kind of allows me to be the most consistent.Its kind of a pick up, put down with my toe, and read the ball from there.Honeycutt missed two weeks in late July with an ankle injury, and he spent his time on the injured list working on the toe tap.

In his first week back, he put up his best stretch of his professional career, going 9-for-22 with two doubles, one triple and one homer.

Since, hes gone 3-for-55 with 30 strikeouts.Came back from the IL and had a clear head, he said.

That was a good week, the next week kind of felt a little bit of the pressure again.

I did a better job realizing it quicker, so learning from getting punched in the face and just kind of how youre going to respond.

The quicker the better.Honeycutt knows hes being tested right now.

Hes convinced hell look back on his difficult 2025 season and be glad he went through it.At some point, whether you want to or not, youre going to struggle, he said.

Ive been looking at it, like, its part of my story, that struggle came here.

So just learn from it and hopefully down the road, its going to make me a better player.(Editors note: Each week, The Baltimore Sun will break down three of the top performers in the Orioles prospect ranks and hand out superlatives for those who didnt make the cut.)1.

High-A Aberdeen outfielder Nate GeorgeIt only took George, the Orioles No.

2 prospect, two weeks to start figuring out High-A pitching.

After posting a .588 OPS in his first two weeks with the IronBirds, George broke out last week by going 7-for-18 with a home run, four RBIs and four stolen bases.

The 19-year-old has skyrocketed up prospect lists this year after he was drafted in the 16th round last summer.

Hes slashed an impressive .334/.413/.485 good for an .898 OPS across three levels this season, earning him the No.

80 spot on Baseball Americas top 100 prospects list.2.

Double-A Chesapeakes starting rotationThe Baysox might have one of the best rotations in minor league baseball, and they showed it last week.

The clubs six starters Luis De Leon, Juaron Watts-Brown, Nestor German, Blake Money, Michael Forret and Zach Fruit combined to post a 2.55 ERA and 40 strikeouts across their 35 1/3 innings.

De Leon struck out eight and didnt allow an earned run across 5 2/3 frames in his first start at the level.

Watts-Brown allowed only one hit while striking out seven in six innings of two-run ball.

Fruit punched out seven across 5 1/3 innings of one-run ball.3.

Low-A Delmarva infielder Luis AlmeydaSince the Orioles gave a 16-year-old Almeyda a franchise-record $2.3 million signing bonus, hes posted a career .655 OPS in rookie ball and the low minors.

But the talented youngster, now 19, put together one of his best weeks in professional ball last week, going 5-for-14 with a home run and four RBIs.The top prospect not featured so farThe Orioles have four top 100 prospects, according to Baseball America.

Two of them Samuel Basallo and Dylan Beavers are in the major leagues.

George and right-hander Esteban Mejia are the others.

The Orioles ended Mejias season early, though, after the 18-year-old fireballer hit the organizations workload goals for the season (52 innings).

He was placed on Delmarvas development list two weeks ago and will be put on a plan this offseason to get him ready for spring training.International acquisition of the weekAfter an impressive 2024 campaign, infielder Edwin Amparo struggled for much of this season, hitting .195 with a .621 OPS in Delmarva.

But the switch-hitter crushed the ball last week, going 5-for-14 with two doubles, one triple and one homer with six RBIs, six stolen bases and four walks.

The Orioles signed Amparo for $650,000 out of the Dominican Republic in 2022.2025 trade deadline check inThe 2025 trade deadline brought 16 prospects into the Orioles farm system, and the success of these players could be critical to both the short- and long-term success of the franchise.

In a new section for The Baltimore Suns weekly minor league report, the first player is pitcher Twine Palmer, the return from the Houston Astros in the Ramon Urias trade.

The 6-foot-5 righty experienced difficulties in his first three starts for the Shorebirds, but last week he struck out eight across 4 2/3 innings of two-run ball.Time to give a shout-out to ...Reed Trimble led all Orioles minor leaguers in OPS last week at 1.522.

He went 9-for-20 with two doubles, three homers and nine RBIs.

That performance earned the 2021 second-round pick a promotion to Triple-A.Have a news tip? Contact Jacob Calvin Meyer at [email protected], 410-332-6200 and x.com/JCalvinMeyer..

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