We are now far enough into the college baseball season that we’re not that far away from starting to seriously start thinking about seeds and hosting for the NCAA Tournament. North Carolina is in pretty good position on that front, especially having won a series last weekend over Georgia Tech, with both teams ranked #2 and #3 by several polls. There’s still some season left and baseball can be a fairly random sport, but the Tar Heels look to be in position to be a national championship contender
this year.
UNC baseball have yet to actually take home a national title, but they have come agonizingly close. Thinking about the chances of this year’s teams inevitably takes one back to past great Carolina baseball teams. After all, baseball in general is an excuse and an exercise in “remembering some guys.”
With that in mind, for today’s question of the day, I thought I’d simply ask: who is your favorite UNC baseball player of all time?
My personal answer is former Tar Heel pitcher Andrew Miller for a couple of reasons. One is that he was excellent playing at UNC. He was a member of one of those teams that came agonizingly close to a national title, as an important part of the 2006 Tar Heels. They made it all the way to the finals before losing to Oregon State in the championship series. That year, he was also one of the best individual players in the country, winning a host of awards, including Baseball America’s College Player of the Year.
That season and his career in Chapel Hill led to Miller getting drafted sixth overall in the 2006 MLB Draft, and it was his professional career that leads the other reason why I hold him so dear. From 2015-16, Miller played for my favorite MLB team: the New York Yankees. Over those two seasons, he was an absolutely lights out reliever for the team and also always seemed like a good guy in addition to a good pitcher.
As far as recent Tar Heels go, Vance Honeycutt was an electric player to watch when he was at Carolina. As of now, I would find it a little hard to root for him at the MLB level, as he would be a division rival of my Yankees with the Baltimore Orioles. I wish him personal success, just maybe not his team.
That’s my answer, but what about you? Who is your favorite ever UNC baseball player?
