Trey Mancini Aims for MLB Comeback with Diamondbacks

Phoenix, AZ – The Arizona Diamondbacks and veteran outfielder/first baseman Trey Mancini have agreed to a minor league contract with an invitation to spring training, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan. Mancini, who turns 33 next month, hasn’t played since being cut by the Miami Marlins in March 2024.

According to Passan, Mancini has been staying in shape and hopes to parlay his invitation to spring training into a longer major league career. In parts of seven major league seasons, Mancini hit .263 with 117 home runs and 350 RBIs. He finished third in American League Rookie of the Year voting with Baltimore in 2017. From 2017-19, he slashed .275/.334.480 (117 OPS+) and looked to be a part of the Orioles’ core as the team emerged from a long rebuild.

When Mancini was diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer in March 2020, it put his career — and his life — on hold. He underwent chemotherapy and missed the entire 2020 season. Mancini was cancer-free , and returned to the Orioles in 2021.

“There were times early on when I wasn’t entirely sure I’d be playing baseball again,” Mancini . “I’d be lying if I’d say that was the first thing that came to mind. The whole time I just wanted to be healthy long-term and live a long life. And baseball definitely was on the back burner when I was going through all that.”

Although Mancini was still a productive hitter for the O’s in 2021 and 2022, he never approached the 35-homer power he flashed in 2019. By Aug. 2022, he was hitting .268 with 10 home runs in 92 games for the Orioles when they traded him to the Houston Astros in a deadline-day deal. Mancini finished out the 2022 season in Houston, batting a meager .176 with eight home runs in 51 regular-season games. In the postseason, he went 1 for 21 as a backup first baseman/designated hitter for the eventual World Series champions.

Mancini signed a free agent contract with the Cubs prior to the 2023 season but was released in August with a .234/.299/.336 slash line and a -1.4 bWAR. Prior to the 2024 season, Mancini signed with Miami, but he did not make the team after slashing .257/.333/.371 in 15 Grapefruit League games.

With Arizona, Mancini gets a chance to make a team that is looking to return to the World Series two years after winning a surprise National League pennant. The Diamondbacks added arguably the best pitcher on the free agent market this winter in right-hander Corbin Burnes and acquired slugging first baseman Josh Naylor via trade to replace Christian Walker, who signed with Houston as a free agent.