The Orioles made three picks on the first night of the 2024 MLB Draft. First, they continued their trend of selecting college hitters by selecting North Carolina outfielder Vance Honeycutt at No. 22. Then, Virginia shortstop Griff O’Ferrall was selected at No. 32, followed closely by teammate Ethan Anderson at No. 61.
“We’re very excited about this group,” said Matt Blood, the Orioles’ vice president of player development. “We have three guys who are quality baseball players, with a lot of skill and incredible physicality. These three guys are players that their coaches love on and off the field. So not only are we getting top-tier baseball players, we’re getting really good people.”
Here are 10 things to know about Baltimore’s new additions.
Vance Honeycutt led the Tar Heels to the College World Series
Honeycutt led North Carolina to its first College World Series appearance in six years in his final season. The fourth-seeded Tar Heels beat Virginia, then lost to eventual national champions Tennessee and Florida State and were eliminated.
Honeycutt had 5 hits in 13 at-bats with two home runs and five RBIs in three CWS games. His single helped North Carolina beat the Cavaliers in the first round, and he also hit a home run in the Super Regional final to help UNC beat West Virginia.
He possesses a rare combination of power and speed
Honeycutt, who stands 6’3″ and weighs 200 pounds, finished his college career as the only player in the history of a major NCAA Division I conference with 60 home runs and 70 steals.
He hit 28 home runs, a school record in a season, and stole 28 bases last season. In just 50 games in 2023, Honeycutt hit 12 home runs and had 19 steals. He hit 25 home runs and stole 29 bases as a freshman.
He is a first-rate defensive outfielder.
Honeycutt patrolled center field at Chapel Hill and was one of the best in the college ranks.
He became the first player to win the Atlantic Coast Conference Defensive Player of the Year award twice. He also received the Rawlings Gold Glove and recorded 16.9 defensive runs saved during his junior season, the most among Division I outfielders.
“He was one of those guys we dreamed of coming to us, but we weren’t too optimistic about it,” Blood said. “And it happened, so we’re very happy.”
It is hitting at historic rates
The Orioles were attracted to Honeycutt’s aforementioned assets. They’ll have work to do to improve his miss-making tendencies.
Honeycutt posted a 27.5 percent strikeout rate as a junior last season, the highest rate of any college hitter ever selected in the first round of the MLB draft. He struck out 224 times in three seasons with North Carolina.
ESPN analyst Kiley McDaniel called Honeycutt “the most polarizing player in the first round.” The combination of power, speed and defense is enticing, but Baltimore needs the strikeouts to decrease.
“It’s something he’s going to have to work on,” Blood said. “It’s something we feel like with our player development system and the people we have here, it’s something we’re going to be able to work with him on and help him out.”
He is the fourth outfielder the Orioles have selected in the first round in the last five drafts.
The Orioles like college position players. And in recent years, they’ve leaned heavily toward outfielders.
Baltimore took Heston Kjerstad second overall in 2020 and then Colton Cowser fifth in 2021. They added 17th overall pick Enrique Bradfield Jr. last season, and he has since become the organization’s No. 8 prospect, according to Baseball America.
Most of the Orioles’ minor leaguers on the verge of major league promotion are infielders. With Bradfield and now Honeycutt, the club is hoping its latest picks will help replenish the minor league system’s depth.
This is the Orioloes’ last first-round pick since 2016.
The last time the Orioles made a pick that late in a draft, it was Dan Duquette who made the pick.
The Orioles made top-five picks in four straight years, the first four of the Mike Elias era, and used those selections to build the foundation for the current roster. Those four picks — Adley Rutschman, Kjerstad, Cowser and Jackson Holliday — all reached the major leagues.
After the Orioles won an AL record 101 games last season, Honeycutt became the club’s last first-round pick under Elias. Baltimore’s last pick higher than 22nd was right-handed pitcher Cody Sedlock (27th) eight years ago.
He trained at Jackson Holliday’s private training center this winter.
The Holliday family’s estate in Stillwater, Oklahoma, has just about everything an athlete could want. An indoor batting cage, golf simulator, and basketball and pickleball courts are among its many amenities.
Honeycutt traveled there last winter to work out with Jackson, the Orioles’ top prospect, and his younger brother Ethan, a potential first-round pick in next year’s draft. Honeycutt joins Kjerstad and MLB All-Stars Cody Bellinger and Joey Gallo as players who will work out at the facility this summer.
Griff O’Ferrall is an Oriole because of Gunnar Henderson
The Orioles received the 32nd pick, one of two picks in MLB’s Prospect Incentive Program, for Henderson, who won the American League Rookie of the Year award last season. The Arizona Diamondbacks received the 31st pick for outfielder Corbin Carroll, who won the award in the National League.
In addition to the latest collective bargaining agreement, the program grants teams additional draft picks if they promote a top prospect to the major leagues early in the season and then win a major award. The Orioles promoted Henderson in 2022, but he retained his rookie eligibility to qualify in 2023.
And with that extra pick, Baltimore added another shortstop.
He was the iron man of Virginia
O’Ferrall started every game of his three-year career at Virginia and was the leadoff hitter in all but one game. In 186 games, the 6-foot-1, 195-pound shortstop became the Cavaliers’ all-time leader among three-year players in career hits and runs batted in.
He set Virginia’s single-season hits record as a sophomore in 2023 with 108, and he is one of only two Cavaliers to record two 90-hit seasons, joining former Washington Nationals All-Star Ryan Zimmerman.
“He’s a player,” Blood said. “He’s a really good baseball player. He can impact the game defensively, on the paths and he wreaks havoc with his bat — tons of line drives, tons of contact, he’s really hard to put down. He’s the kind of guy the fans are going to love, and I think that’s what you see when you watch him play.”
His former teammate is now an Oriole too.
Baltimore’s third pick on opening night of the draft was Cavaliers receiver Ethan Anderson, who has played alongside fellow Virginia native O’Ferrall for the past three seasons.
Anderson, who stands 6-foot-2 and weighs 210 pounds, played catcher, first baseman and designated hitter for four seasons with the Cavaliers. He hit .341/.441/.560 with 28 home runs in 178 career games.
“He’s a very interesting and exciting offensive profile – he gets on base a lot, makes a lot of quality contact,” Blood said. “He’s an ambidextrous hitter and can do a lot of things to impact the game on the offensive side. On the defensive side, he hasn’t been able to catch as many balls this year as he probably would have liked, and we’re looking forward to helping him develop that role with us.”