ABERDEEN, Md. - The most recent Orioles’ top draft pick is outfielder Vance Honeycutt of the University of North Carolina. The club selected him No. 22 overall last summer.

Honeycutt brings the O’s organization a nice blend of solid offense and defense.

He was the Atlantic Coast Conference Defensive Player of the Year in both 2023 and 2024. As a hitter he led the ACC with 28 homers, added 28 steals, scored 88 runs and hit .318 with an OPS of 1.124 for a talented 2024 Tarheel squad that made the College World Series.

He began his pro career last Aug. 22 at Low-A Delmarva and ended the season with High-A Aberdeen. He is back with the IronBirds this year to begin his first full professional season.

In this wide-ranging interview, we discussed his time at UNC, his inside-the-park homer in the Spring Breakout game, the pressures of being a top draft pick and a lot more.

Thanks to IronBirds broadcaster Michael Marcantonini for the play-by-play cuts used in this podcast.

Hope you enjoy Episode No. 3 of the Steve On Baseball Podcast.

This Substack is reader-supported. To receive each new post, support my work, and get alerted for every story, video, game blog and podcast, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Hope to add you to the list and thanks!

Thanks for reading! This post is public so feel free to share it.