Last night, the Los Angeles Angels dropped their series opener to the Houston Astros 5-4. The loss came in extra innings as the Astros tied the game in the top of the ninth and scored in the tenth while keeping the Angels on the board for the win. In the game, the Angels had Trey Mancini in the lineup batting seventh and playing first base. Mancini signed a minor league deal with the Angels in February. In 52 games in Triple-A with the Salt Lake Bees, he hit .273 with a .841 OPS. He had 17 doubles, six home runs, 29 RBI, and 40 runs scored.
The Angels recalled Mancini after placing infielders Vaughn Grissom and Adam Frazier on the 10-day injured list. Grissom has a left oblique strain, while Frazier has right elbow inflammation. Mancini, in his return, went 3-4 with an RBI and a run scored. Mancini opened the scoring in the bottom of the second with an RBI single. He scored in the third on a Logan O’Hoppe double. It had been 1,043 days since he played in the big leagues. That game was July 31, 2023, when he was with the Cubs.
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Trey Mancini
The Baltimore Orioles drafted Mancini in the eighth round of the 2013 MLB Draft. He made his debut on September 20, 2016, going 1-3 with a solo home run. The home run came in his second at-bat in the fifth inning of Eduardo Rodriguez. He played in just five games that season, hitting .357 with a 1.471 OPS. He had a double, three home runs, five RBI, and three runs scored. His first full big league season came in 2017, where he finished third in Rookie of the Year voting. He hit .293 with a .826 OPS. He had 26 doubles, four triples, 24 home runs, 78 RBI, and 65 runs scored. Mancini spent six seasons in Baltimore playing in 701 games, hitting .270 with a .797 OPS. He had 137 doubles, 11 triples, 117 home runs, 350 RBI, and 359 runs scored.
He sat out the 2020 season as he was battling stage three colon cancer. Mancini went into remission after surgery and six months of chemotherapy, and he returned to major league baseball. In 2022, the Orioles traded him to the Houston Astros, where in 51 games she hit .176 with a .622 OPS. He had seven doubles, eight home runs, 22 RBI, and 17 runs scored. In 2023, he played for the Cubs, where in 79 games, he hit .234 with a .635 OPS. He had 12 doubles, four home runs, 28 RBI, and 31 runs scored.
Wrap Up
As the saying goes, “How can you not be romantic about baseball?” Last night certainly proved that. Welcome back, Trey Mancini.
