Former Salisbury two-sport star and UNC junior Vance Honeycutt has been selected with the 22nd overall pick in the MLB Draft by the Baltimore Orioles.

Honeycutt achieved notoriety nationwide with clutch hits to help the Tar Heels reach Omaha. He’s also the Tar Heels’ all-time leading home-run hitter (65), finishing his college career with 76 stolen bases, 205 runs scored, 170 RBIs, a Gold Glove award (first in school history), two ACC Defensive Players of the Year awards (first in conference history), and made six different publications’ all-American teams in 2024. He hit 28 homers his junior year alone.

But Honeycutt made some waves in high school too.

As a senior with the Hornets, Honeycutt was the MVP of the 2020 2AA football championship game (which was played in the spring of 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and, a few months later, was a HSOT first team all-state selection in baseball.

Playing option quarterback, he threw for 94.7 yards per game and ran for 80.1 yards per game, throwing for 11 scores and running for 19 in 11 games. He completed 8 of 12 passes for 105 yards and a touchdown, and added 110 yards rushing on 17 carries and four TDs on the ground in a 42-21 state championship victory over St. Pauls.

He also quarterbacked the Hornets to the 2019 2AA football title, finishing runner-up to Shelby.

As a shortstop at Salisbury, he finished his senior year with a .548 average on 17 hits, 10 RBIs, 3 doubles, 2 triples, 4 HRs, 23 runs, and 18 stolen bases (in 12 games due to the COVID-19 pandemic’s effect on scheduling in 2021).

He played just four games his junior year when the pandemic cut it short, but still finished with 76 career runs, 66 hits, 53 stolen bases, and 44 walks for the Hornets (and five home runs).

He was drafted by the San Francisco Giants in 2021 in the 20th round but did not sign.

His accolades across both sports made him a HSOT finalist for Male Athlete of the Year in 2021.

Source: highschoolot.com