INDIANAPOLIS — Brent Honeywell Jr. started the 2024 baseball season on the Indianapolis Indians roster.
Now, he's a World Series champion.
The 29-year-old right-handed pitcher, who'd spent parts of two seasons in the major leagues with the Tampa Bay Rays, San Diego Padres and Chicago White Sox, signed a minor league contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates in February.
Honeywell, a former Top 15-ranked prospect by Baseball America, appeared in 31 games for the Indians this past summer, striking out 33 batters in 39 innings and logging seven saves while pitching to a 4.85 ERA.
After a short stint with the Pirates in which he allowed one run in 3 1/3 innings, Honeywell was claimed off waivers by the Los Angeles Dodgers. In just over 34 regular season innings with the eventual 2024 World Series champions, Honeywell posted an impressive 2.62 ERA and picked up his first MLB save.
After missing the first round of the playoffs, Honeywell was added to the National League Championship Series, pitching 7 2/3 innings over two games, the second-most of any Dodgers' pitcher in the series.
His 4.70 ERA in the NLCS wasn't stellar, but Honeywell saved the team's bullpen on multiple occasions, which wasn't lost on two-time All-Star infielder Max Muncy, Honeywell's teammate.
"Put him in any position. You need two outs, he's got you. You need three innings, he's got you," Muncy told Spectrum SportsNet LA after the series. "This guy might have gotten (star outfielder) Mookie Betts right.... he threw him live (batting practice) and Mookie Betts started going off."
"He's one of the heartbeats of this team," Muncy said of Honeywell. "It doesn't get stated enough, he doesn't get enough credit. This guy's amazing on the bus, in the clubhouse, in the bullpen. This dude's amazing."
Honeywell made one appearance in the World Series against the New York Yankees, surrendering five earned runs in one inning of work in Game 4, throwing a World Series record 50 pitches in that inning.
With that appearance and the Dodgers' second title in the last five years, Honeywell became the first player since Rawly Eastwick in 1975 to play with the Indianapolis Indians and appear in the World Series for the champion in the same season.
