Trey Mancini Ready, Willing, And Seems Able To Help Join A Playoff Race

Trey Mancini is not one to give up. He didn’t when he was diagnosed with cancer in 2020, nor after sitting out all of 2024.

The 33-year-old first baseman opted out of his minor-league contract with the Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday. It would be wise for the many MLB teams needing to score runs to give him a call.

Mancini turned back the clock this year with the Triple-A Reno Aces, dealing out 16 home runs, 62 RBI, .302 average and .895 OPS in 74 games. His 62 runs and 92 hits both ranked second in the Pacific Coast League. His 156 total bases were fourth.

That’s his best production, albeit at a lower level, over an extended stretch since he missed all of 2020 battling colon cancer. Over the previous three years for the Baltimore Orioles, Mancini averaged .274, 28 homers, 78 RBI with an .814 OPS.

“It’s definitely been a wild ride since, and I think it’s taken until this year to fully process it and try to move past it,” Mancini told Nikki Pica of Nevada Sports Net in late May. “I think in the few years following it’s always on the forefront of your mind and you know you’re worried about your health more than anything else and it’s a scary thing to go through. It’s a mental warfare so you have to figure out how to get through it.

“It puts things in perspective. At the same time, I came back and wanted to do well just as much as I did before I was diagnosed with cancer. So, that never changed, and you have to learn how to deal with everything and it takes years. I didn’t play last year, and I think that was huge for me just taking a step back, being away from the game. I thought I was going to retire and having an appreciation for where I was and just trying to enjoy every day. It’s been really rewarding being back and being able to play and be on this team.”

Mancini earned the MLB Comeback Player Award in 2021 by hitting 21 homers with 78 RBI in 147 games. He had 10 homers in 92 games the next year when he was traded to the Houston Astros, in need of a first baseman for a playoff push. Mancini hit eight homers but batted only .176. He got a cherished World Series ring, though he was not much help, batting .048 (1-for-21) in the post-season.

He signed with the Chicago Cubs in 2023 and hit only .234 with 4 homers, then unofficially “retired” last year.

Back To Baltimore Or Elsewhere?

Going back to the Orioles, where veteran first baseman Ryan Mountcastle is on the injured list and lefty hitting Ryan O’Hearn is slumping after a great first two months, is a possibility. Baltimore ranks 18th overall in scoring.

Other clubs are in much more need of offense, however.

The Kansas City Royals are dead-last in scoring. Ranking 22nd through 26th are the San Francisco Giants, San Diego Padres, Atlanta Braves, Texas Rangers and Cleveland Guardians. At No. 20 are the Minnesota Twins. All these clubs are solidly in the hunt for a playoff berth.

The Boston Red Sox, despite ranking sixth in scoring, are in the hunt, too. They may be the best bet of all, with first baseman Tristan Casas out for the season with a knee injury. Veteran journeyman Abraham Toro has been filling in. He has 39 homers over seven seasons with five teams. Mancini hit 35 in 2019 for Baltimore.

Best of all, he is a .338 career hitter at Fenway Park, where the legendary left-field wall beckons power-hitting right-handers. Mancini has 13 doubles, 5 homers and 30 RBI in 39 games at the ballpark.

Other Comebacks

Red Sox legend Tony Conigliaro homered in his first time up in the big leagues and was destined for greatness.

He missed the entire 1968 season, however, after getting hit in the eye with a pitch. It happened midway through Boston’s “Impossible Dream” season of 1967 when the 22-year-old slugger already had 104 career homers. It kept him from playing in the World Series one year after Boston has finished in ninth place.

Conigliaro came back in 1969 and 1970 to total 56 homers and 198 RBI before double vision from the injury essentially ended his career at age 26.

He had a heart attack at five days before his 37th birthday in 1982, and was confined to a wheelchair until dying in 1990.

The Red Sox established the Tony Conigliaro Award that year. It is presented annually to honor MLB players who best “overcome an obstacle and adversity through the attributes of spirit, determination, and courage that were trademarks of Conigliaro.”

Mancini won the award in 2021. Current Boston reliever Liam Hendricks won in 2023 for battling non-Hodgins lymphoma while with the Chicago White Sox. Hendricks signed with Boston and missed all of 2024 after needing Tommy John surgery.

The Orioles’ Eric Davis had colon cancer surgery during the 1997 season. He won the award that year, when he came back to hit a home run in the playoffs.

Two-sport star Bo Jackson won the award in 1993 for helping the Chicago White Sox make the playoffs after missing the entire 1992 season.

He had sustained a devastating hip injury in a 1991 playoff game with the NFL’s Los Angeles Raiders. He never returned to football and the injury forced him to retire from baseball at age 31 in 1994.

Trey Mancini is eager to keep swinging and possibly power a ballclub into the 025 playoffs.