Brent Honeywell Brings Style, Swagger, and Unfiltered Honesty to Dodgers’ World Series Run
When it comes to Los Angeles Dodgers reliever Brent Honeywell Jr., what you see is what you get.
The perm-having, turtleneck-wearing, screwball-throwing right-hander always puts on a show and provides his teammates with something to talk about. That’s who he has always been and always will be.
“To be honest with you, ever since he was drafted out of our place, I think one of the things I’ve been most nervous about with Brent is his interviews,” Wallace State Community College head baseball coach David Shelton told Dodgers Nation in a phone interview. “I’m telling you Brent is one of these guys who says what’s on his mind. When they were handing out filters in school, I think he was absent that day. There is no filter with him and he calls it like he sees it.
“He’s actually done a really good job with his interviews and keeping them mostly PG-rated. He is truly special.”
Honeywell’s filterless persona was on display in the champagne-soaked clubhouse after the Dodgers won the National League pennant and again on Monday afternoon when he answered questions from the media ahead of Game 3 of the World Series.
“I’ve thrown here before,” he said about his history at Yankee Stadium. “I’ve had a good one, I’ve had a rough one. It’s Yankee Stadium in the World Series, I’ve never done that before.”
Honeywell’s time slot on Monday was usually reserved for the starter of the following game. When he was asked if he was starting Game 4 he just said what was on his mind.
“I don’t know,” he replied. “Good question.”
Honeywell appeared in 18 regular season games for the Dodgers this season. He went 1-1 with one hold, one save and one start over 34.1 innings with a 2.62 ERA. In the postseason, he has allowed four earned runs on eight hits in 7.2 innings.
The journey for Honeywell to this stage has been unique just like him. He was recruited by Shelton but didn’t throw as hard as a typical college prospect would and several schools passed on him because he didn’t throw hard enough.
Honeywell increased his velocity from “83 to 86 mph” to “93 to 95 with the ability to pitch” his freshman year at Wallace State. He led the country in strikeouts and commanded all four pitches.
Tampa Bay ended up taking Honeywell in the second round in 2014 and he was on the taxi squad for the World Series in 2020. This postseason has been a different story because if it wasn’t for his performance in Game 5 of the NLCS, the Dodgers might not have won Game 6.
“There is not one bit of shock factor for me that he was able to do that,” Shelton added. “He’s going to do whatever it takes to help his team win and he has an understanding of how to do that. Some people may have went into pitch feeling like they were on mop-up duty. He understood how important it was to save the rest of that bullpen and eat up as many innings as possible.”
Thanks to his selfless performance in the NLCS, the Dodgers hold a 2-0 World Series lead and Honeywell will be ready if and when his number is called.
Photo Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
