It’s been a long time since Brent Honeywell has thrown in a game setting — three years, five months, and 18 days and counting to be exact — but for the Tampa Bay Rays right-hander, it’s been about looking at the small details.
“I’m moving just like everybody else here, one day at a time,” Honeywell said Saturday after the team’s latest workout for pitchers and catchers. “It’s the best thing, kind of being considered so-called normal. I really don’t have a timeline for you. I wish I did. It would make me feel a little better. But we’re kind of just moving at the beat of our own drum, which I think is probably the best thing for me right now.”
Honeywell was on the precipice of getting the call to the major leagues when he tore his ulnar collateral ligament in a live batting practice session at the start of Spring Training in 2018, then fractured his elbow at the end of 2019 while throwing a bullpen session in Port Charlotte, and needed another procedure to deal with nerve irritation. He says instead of being upset that the brass ring was so close when everything fell, he looks at the positives while seeing that opportunity still in front of him.
“It’s been sitting in front of me for three years, honestly,” the 25-year-old said. “I think about it every day. But I know what kind of pitcher I am in the long run. I know how much I love this game and how much I love my teammates. That carries me throughout the day more than looking forward to pitching in the major leagues, just being in the clubhouse with the guys.”
Steve Carney is the founder and publisher of St. Pete Nine. One of the people most associated with baseball coverage in Tampa Bay, he spent 13 seasons covering the Rays for flagship radio station WDAE, first as producer of Rays Radio broadcasts, then as beat reporter beginning in 2011. He likes new analytics and aged bourbon, and is the owner of one of the ugliest knuckleballs ever witnessed by baseball scouts.
