Veteran first baseman/outfielder Trey Mancini opted out of a minor league deal with the Marlins late last spring and did not sign a new deal with any team for the 2024 season, instead choosing to remain home. However, the 32-year-old tells Andy Kostka of the Baltimore Banner that after a year away from the game, he’s now eyeing a comeback bid in 2025.
Fans of Mancini will want to check out the piece in full. It’s rife with thoughtful quotes from Mancini and his wife on the slugger’s journey through his harrowing Stage 3 colon cancer diagnosis in 2020 and the mental toll that situation took on him even after he overcame the disease and made an inspirational return to baseball in 2021. Mancini said for the first several months of the season, he was at peace with his decision and thought he was content with the career he’d put together.
“But I think, at the same time, I don’t exactly love how things ended in my career, and I really do think if I’m in the right situation I can still be an impact bat,” Mancini told Kostka. “And I know saying that means nothing an I’d have to go out there and prove it, but I’m fully ready to go do that. I just kind of got that hunger back, out of nowhere, honestly.”
Prior to that cancer diagnosis, Mancini was a steady presence in the middle of a then-rebuilding Baltimore club’s lineup. He belted 24 homers in both 2017 and 2018 before enjoying a career-best .291/.364/.535 batting line in 2019. That was the year of the juiced ball, but Mancini’s batting line was still a hefty 32% better than league-average even in that heightened run-scoring environment, by measure of wRC+. He drilled 35 home runs that season, walked in a career-best 9.3% of his plate appearances and struck out at a career-low 21.1% rate. Juiced ball or not, Mancini had the clear look of a player on the rise in his age-27 season.
Mancini’s cancer diagnosis prevented him from playing in 2020 and changed both his career and broader life trajectory. He returned to a hero’s welcome in 2021 after announcing he was cancer free, went on to participate in that season’s Home Run Derby — finishing runner-up to Pete Alonso — and was ultimately named 2021’s American League Comeback Player of the Year. He split the 2022 campaign between the O’s and the Astros, moving to Houston at the deadline and going on to win a World Series ring.
Mancini’s time with the Astros, however, wasn’t up the standards he’d set in Baltimore. He was slashing .268/.347/.404 at the time of the trade but slumped to a .176/.258/.364 output with his new club as he adjusted to a new setting and more limited role. Mancini went on to sign a two-year, $14MM contract with the Cubs in the 2022-23 offseason but never found his footing in Chicago. He appeared in 79 games but batted only .234/.299/.336 with four home runs in 263 plate appearances before being released.
Only time will tell whether Mancini has another run in him, but he’s still just 32 years old (33 next March). Given his age and prior track record, a rebound campaign certainly isn’t out of the question, even if it’s something of a long shot (as is inherently the case with most mid-30s comeback endeavors). For clubs looking to add some right-handed pop to to their corner outfield/first base/bench mix, there’s virtually no risk in signing Mancini to what’d surely be a non-roster deal with a spring training invitation.