One draft prospect at each position that should be on the Pittsburgh Pirates’ radar

Center field

Vance Honeycutt

Vance Honeycutt is an outfielder for the University of North Carolina. Honeycutt has massive power potential as well as a potential Gold Glove future. But his bat is also a massive risk and there’s serious question as to if he could hit enough to be more than a power-hitting 4th outfielder. Still, the potential has made him one of the best players in the draft.

Honeycutt has a .303/.417/.655 triple-slash through 176 plate appearances. The right-handed batter has hit for a ton of pop. He already has 14 home runs, putting him on pace for around 47 home runs across 600 plate appearances. Honeycutt has an impressive .352 isolated slugging percentage as well. He’s matched his power with great base running, swiping 20 bases in just 22 attempts.

Now here’s the interesting part on Honeycutt. While he is walking at a 12.6% rate, he is also striking out nearly 30% of the time with a 28.4% K%. Honeycutt looked like he may have made some improvements from 2022 to 2023, with his strikeout rate going from 29.7% to 20.4%. Honeycutt has a long swing, so while he may never be the next Tony Gwynn, it fluctuating so much and trending in the wrong direction isn’t the most promising thing.

Honeycutt should remain in center field as he has the potential to be a double-plus defender. He’s more than fast enough to cover plenty of ground up the middle. If he had to move to an outfield corner, his arm is also strong enough to handle it with ease.

Honeycutt is a great defender with a powerful arm and 30/30 potential. The major question is whether he can reduce strikeouts and swing-and-miss. That’s obviously easier said than done. Honeycutt has a massive high-ceiling/low-floor profile.