LOS ANGELES – Here’s something to know about Brent Honeywell Jr., the Los Angeles Dodgers’ perm-having, turtleneck-wearing, screwball-throwing eclectic figure at the head of a bullpen group that has called themselves “Dawgs” this October: Be it a tribute to his name or not, he makes his own honey. Or at least his father, Brent Sr., has dating back 10 years or so. Honeywell himself has added a beekeeper’s outfit to his repertoire, and there’s a bottle of honey that now sits in manager Dave Roberts’ office.
It’s hardly the image someone painted as keying a deep run toward the World Series. But this is just Honeywell.
“I think I’m just different strokes for different folks,” Honeywell said. “That’s just what it is.”
On his honey-making exploits: “I don’t do it. Bees do it. … I’ve gone out there and wrestled with them before.”
On his decision to wear a mock turtleneck throughout the season, with blue cotton going halfway up his neck even in sweltering triple-digit temperatures throughout the summer: “Nobody does it. If I had a turtleneck last year I would’ve worn one, but they didn’t have one (with the San Diego Padres). I get over here and asked them and they had one, and so I started wearing it.”
On having his aunt give him a perm when the Dodgers traveled to Denver to finish the regular season, so Honeywell would have a hybrid perm-hawk of sorts on the brightest stage: “Playoff perm. Give the boys something to talk about other than ball. Let them have a little fun, let them have a good time with it. Also, I think it looks good.”
So good that when the group assembled for a photo in the run-up to this World Series, his bullpen mates insisted Honeywell go without a hat.
The Bullpen Dawgs. pic.twitter.com/aGoSNTHZNb
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) October 24, 2024
Honeywell’s eccentricities are endless and his qualities are endlessly lovable. It’s what endeared him to a clubhouse that drunkenly sang his praises after clinching a bid into this World Series.
“He’s the most unique individual I’ve ever met,” Alex Vesia said.
“He’s just special,” Daniel Hudson said. “He’s one of one.”
“I’m a knee-jerker,” Honeywell said. “I like to jerk some knees every now and then. … I like when people are kind of … not necessarily walking on eggshells, but they’re always ready for something. It’s like a little bit of anticipation with, what’s Honey gonna do today?”
He is a novelty, though not a novelty act. Teammates say he exemplifies what this Dodgers bullpen has been about as it has held down opposing lineups this October.
“We wouldn’t be here without him,” Hudson said. “He’s been a godsend for us for sure.”
“He’s the glue,” Michael Kopech said, “that’s holding people together down there.”
“He’s just never stopped,” Evan Phillips said.
That extended to this postseason. Honeywell didn’t make the club’s initial roster this October, and as he worked to stay ready, he threw live batting practice at Petco Park to a series of struggling Dodgers hitters in Mookie Betts, Chris Taylor and Andy Pages. Except Honeywell threw each pitch down the middle.
“I can get guys out, I’ve proven that,” Honeywell said. “But I want my guys to put runs on the board.”
So, he sought to get them right. When Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman asked Honeywell what he was doing, the right-hander quipped back.
“I’m still working on my command,” Honeywell said. “I’m trying to throw it right down the middle.”
“That,” Muncy said, “was probably the best answer you could give.”
He was added to the National League Championship Series roster because the Dodgers simply needed someone to give them length. If the Dodgers were going to go deep in October, it would be by keeping their best relievers fresh. As they trailed the Mets in Game 2, Honeywell soaked up three innings in his postseason debut. And as the Dodgers fell behind in Game 5, with a bullpen game going in Game 6, it was Honeywell who had a direct message for Roberts: Leave him in the game so he could take the load off everyone else.
“Save the dawgs,” Honeywell would say afterward.
“That was the most organic thing that he’s ever said,” Vesia said. “Just organic. That’s him, to a T.”
The Dodgers had enough arms to win Game 6, and the pennant. In the postgame hysteria, including a now-viral interview, it was Honeywell who earned his share of the credit.
“You have a guy like that, you really want to make sure he gets his due,” Muncy said. “Obviously in that moment I might have been a little intoxicated, but hey, we were having fun. We were going to the World Series. But I wanted to make sure the guy got his due.”
At 29 years old, Honeywell is far removed from his days as a prized top prospect. Since debuting in 2021, he’s pitched for six organizations, and none all that much or for that long. He arrived on a waiver claim in July because the Dodgers needed someone to pitch in what was a hellacious stretch before the All-Star break. Honeywell had pitched twice in a week before the Pittsburgh Pirates had designated him for assignment, so he rode the bus from the team’s road stop in Milwaukee to Chicago. He received a phone call from Mark Prior, the Dodgers’ pitching coach, telling him the Dodgers had just picked him up. They needed bodies, so Honeywell would start.
“How many innings can you pitch?” Prior asked. Honeywell, a starter before injuries wrecked his arm, gave him three scoreless against the Detroit Tigers. Rather than shoot back out onto waivers, Honeywell stuck around. He closed games. He gave the Dodgers length. When the Dodgers designated him for assignment, too, he opted to go to the minors in Oklahoma City rather than for free agency. In 34 1/3 innings for the Dodgers this season, he had a 2.62 ERA.
“I walked into a team that wanted me to pitch for them, and they let me pitch,” Honeywell said. “There was no telling of what to do. There was no hesitancy on letting me pitch. … I can go. I can do this and I think this is going to work. You just have to let me try it and put it to use.
“I put winning first more than anything in my whole life. And if I feel like (if) you can’t get behind that, or you’re doing something that’s a detriment to me trying to win a baseball game, I’m gonna ask questions, and if it’s not to your liking, I don’t care. I know one thing is first, is that this team wants to win, and they told me that from the day I got here.”
The Dodgers encouraged Honeywell to help clean up his delivery into something more repeatable. Injuries had not sapped Honeywell of his mid-90s velocity, which still possessed good enough command to go through a lineup multiple times. And rather than shelve the pitch that made him famous as a prospect — the screwball — as a novelty, they embraced it. Honeywell picked up the rare pitch from his father, who picked it up from his cousin, Mike Marshall — who won a Cy Young Award with the Dodgers as a reliever a little less than a decade before the late Fernando Valenzuela again put the pitch onto the map.
Brent Honeywell, Gorgeous 80mph Screwball. 😍 pic.twitter.com/u4VJ1EARd9
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) August 1, 2024
Honeywell acknowledged the emotion in potentially bringing that pitch onto the highest stage, particularly after Valenzuela passed away Tuesday and ahead of the first World Series between the Dodgers and New York Yankees since Valenzuela’s rookie season in 1981. Honeywell met Valenzuela a year ago in San Diego and broke down the art of the pitch that has nearly gone extinct. Each iteration is different: Honeywell’s is firmer, and he’ll tweak it depending on the day based on what kind of movement he seeks to generate.
It’s propelled him to the back of a postseason roster and the emotional center of a star-laden group. It’s gotten him here, after years of arm injuries that still require an ice pack slung from shoulder to wrist each night after he pitches.
“This whole gig over the last couple years has been pretty eye-opening to me,” Honeywell said. “(My) younger self, he’d be proud, because it wasn’t easy.”
(Photo: Harry How / Getty Images)
