Honeywell continues to enjoy a virtually seamless progression through the Rays organization, posting a combined 2.34 ERA and 1.03 WHIP over 20 starts between High-A Charlotte and Double-A Montgomery. His strikeouts were slightly down upon his ascension to the latter, but he otherwise was essentially producing at the same clip as he had against a lower level of competition. He has five pitches at his disposal and strong command of all of them, led by his plus screwball. His second best offering is a low-90s fastball, which also grades out as plus due to his command of the pitch and its late movement. All told, the ingredients of a high-end No. 3 starter are all present. The Rays are known for taking it slow with pitching prospects, but unique talents like Blake Snell and Honeywell can move at a more traditional pace, so we could see the Rays No. 2 prospect make his big league debut sometime this summer.

It is pretty easy to fall in love with Honeywell as a prospect, but it is important to have realistic expectations. He has three above-average pitches to go with above-average command, but he doesn’t have the one or two great pitches typically necessary for a pitcher to profile at the front of a rotation. Of course, in the lower levels of the minors, just having two above-average pitches and above-average command is enough to dominate most hitters, so it is no surprise that Honeywell posted a 3.18 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, and 129 strikeouts in 130.1 innings between Low-A and High-A as a 20-year-old. He covered two levels in 2015, but it would not be surprising to see him spend all of 2016 at Double-A unless he pulls a Blake Snell and shatters expectations, which seems unlikely. In the end, Honeywell is probably a No. 3 or No. 4 starter who could debut in the big leagues in late 2017.

Honeywell came out of the 2014 draft and did well in his rookie debut. He’s an unusual pitcher in that he throws a screwball, which is a pitch that is just about extinct in the major leagues. He throws in the low-to-mid-90s, and has the aforementioned screwball to keep batters guessing as he did when striking out 40 batters in 33.2 innings in 2014. He was ranked the fifth best prospect in the Appalachian League by Baseball America, and should be on watch lists in deep dynasty leagues.