His dad played for UNC, but Vance Honeycutt is making a name for himself with Heels
North Carolina freshman outfielder Vance Honeycutt truly discovered his UNC baseball lineage in high school when his dad, Bob, finally dug through the closet and produced a ring from the Tar Heels’ 1989 College World Series appearance that he was a part of.
His dad never harped on his legacy at Carolina, which is ironic because Honeycutt is well on his way to establishing his own. He is second on the team with 17 home runs and is second in the ACC with 28 stolen bases. He is one of only three players in the nation who have hit at least 15 home runs and stolen 20 bases or more.
“Obviously, I knew he played here and they made that run to the College World Series,” Honeycutt said. “He just always talks about whenever your opportunity, your name’s called, always be ready. If that comes early then awesome. If it doesn’t, then keep working. It’s pretty cool just to know he’s been in this. He’s been in my shoes.”
Honeycutt’s full name is Robert Vance Honetycutt IV, but he chose not to become another Bobby Honeycutt at UNC. He’s a name for himself.
The 6-foot-3 Salisbury native will try to help the No. 8 seed Heels emerge from pool play as the ACC baseball tournament begins Tuesday in Charlotte at Truist Field. UNC takes on No. 12 seed Clemson and would also have to get past No. 1 seed Virginia Tech in order to advance to Saturday’s semifinals.
“You don’t see many freshmen that can play an elite center field like he has, steal that many bases and hit that many home runs,” UNC coach Scott Forbes said. “So I’d be lying to you if I thought that he was going to be this good, this early.”
Honeycutt received All-ACC freshman team honors as well as All-ACC third team on Monday, making him just the third player in UNC history to be named to the All-Freshman team and receive All-ACC honors.
The awards may seem like he’s had it made all along, but Honeycutt had to earn it the hard way. He was batting leadoff until a loss to North Carolina A&T, then watched his batting average dip to a season-low .243 after facing Georgia Tech on April 15.
“The game kind of sped up a little bit, whenever I was in that stretch — swinging at balls not really in the strike zone,” Honeycutt said. “I think everyone goes through times like that and you’ve just got to trust your hard work and just keep working just to try to make it out the other side. I’m fortunate to kind of have turned the leaf a little bit.”
Forbes and assistant coach Jesse Wierzbicki suggested a change in Honeycutt’s batting approach. They didn’t know if it would actually help this season, but the thought was, if he could adjust, he’d be better in the long run.
Honeycutt had gotten away with hitting the way he did in high school early in the season. But Forbes said once ACC play began and the pitching got better, and the scouting more detailed, Honeycutt struggled and “it was clear we had to make a change.”
Wierzbicki got Honeycutt to move the bat from holding it behind his right ear to now off his right shoulder.
“We’ve worked a lot on bat path,” Honeycutt said. “I was in the (strike) zone and out of the zone for a very short amount of time and I didn’t have much room for error. Working on being able to get my bat in the zone earlier just kind of gives me more room for error and being able to use all fields.”
It’s safe to say, Honeycutt is better off now. In Carolina’s 19 games since, he has hit .343 with nine home runs and 19 RBIs.
“That’s hard in the middle of the season to change your swing mechanically,” Forbes said. “...Now he can get to more pitches. He was striking out on pitches that we thought he should hit that were like 93-94 (miles per hour), right at the belt. He’s more direct now.”
Forbes said Honeycutt may be the fastest player he’s ever coached. (He’s only been thrown out on three of his stolen base attempts this season.) That trait may come from his mother, Leah Ann, who ran track at UNC.
It’s one of the reasons why Honeycutt was able to adjust from being recruited at shortstop to moving to center field. It’s also why Forbes doesn’t put a ceiling on what Honeycutt can do.
“His trajectory,” Forbes said. “Just keeps going up.”
