Honeycutt Named Preseason First-Team All-America

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Baseball America named North Carolina outfielder Vance Honeycutt to its preseason All-America team Monday with the junior garnering first team accolades.

Baseball America annually polls major league scouting directors to vote for its preseason All-America teams, asking only that they make their selections based on performance, talent and professional potential.

Honeycutt was also selected as Best Athlete and Fastest Runner as voted on by the scouting departments of major league organizations.

Many scouts view Honeycutt as one of the best pure athletes in the class. His power/speed combination while playing an excellent center field defense is exactly what teams are typically looking for at the top of the draft—especially from a player who has been tested in one of the better conferences in college baseball. Honeycutt also has a case as one of the best defensive center fielders in the country. His plus speed allows him to cover huge swaths of ground and his athleticism is apparent on his many leaping grabs tracking back and into the wall.

Carlos Collazo

It's his third honor of the preseason after being previously named as a preseason All-America player by D1 Baseball and Perfect Game.

A native of Salisbury, N.C., Honeycutt earned All-ACC honors last season and tied for sixth in the conference in base on balls (49) and steals (19). He posted a .910 OPS with 12 home runs and 43 RBIs and was voted ACC Defensive Player of the Year.

As a freshman in 2022, Honeycutt was tabbed third-team All-America by Baseball America, D1 Baseball, and Perfect Game while earning consensus Freshman All-America status. He set the UNC single-season record for home runs (25) and ranked second among all NCAA Division I freshmen in home runs, runs scored (66), total bases (166), and third in slugging percentage (.672) and stolen bases (29) as well as fourth in triples (4).

He has started all 114 games that he's played in his two years at UNC, blasting 37 home runs, collecting 100 RBIs and swiping 48 bases. He is three home runs shy of becoming just the fourth 40-40 career player in school history.

Carolina opens the season with a three-game series against Wagner at Boshamer Stadium. The first pitch of the season is slated for 4 p.m. on Feb. 16.

2024 Season Tickets
Season tickets for the 2024 UNC baseball season are on sale now. Call the UNC Athletics Ticket Office at 919-962-2296 or click here to purchase your tickets. Season tickets start at $125 for general admission, with reserved chairback seating at $190. Flex plan and single-game tickets are also available for purchase. The Diamond Heels have 34 games scheduled at Boshamer Stadium this season, hosting NCAA Tournament participants Campbell, Charlotte, Coastal Carolina, East Carolina, and UNCW, in addition to ACC series with Georgia Tech, Louisville, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, and Virginia Tech.

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Vance Honeycutt

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