The Houston Astros have had their core group of players over the years which helped them reach and sustain a dynastic status, but the different role players who came in at different times have all been unsung heroes.
One who doesn’t get a ton of attention or remembrance is Trey Mancini.
The Astros acquired the slugger in a three-team trade with the Baltimore Orioles and Tampa Bay Rays ahead of the trade deadline in 2022 that saw them ship Jose Siri and prospect Chayce McDermott out of town.
It was a price Houston was willing to pay since Mancini helped them win the world Series.
While his numbers don’t reflect that, slashing just .176/.25/.364 with an OPS+ of 76 across his 51 regular season games before going 1-for-21 in the playoffs, the slugger also filled a need the front office wanted to address.
Both parties would have liked for him to perform better, but the Astros won their second championship with him on the roster, which is all that really matters.
But, because of the poor performance he had, the two sides went their separate ways in the winter.
Mancini inked a two-year, $14 million deal with the Chicago Cubs, but he never could reach the same level of production he had with the Orioles.
He was eventually released which started the journeyman stage of his career.
In fact, the slugger didn’t even appear in a minor league game last season, let alone a Major League one after he opted out of his contract with the Miami Marlins.
However, he’s not ready to make that sabbatical a full-time thing.
Per Jeff Passan of ESPN, Mancini has agreed to a minor league deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks that comes with an invitation to their MLB Spring Training camp.
He’ll attempt to get his professional baseball career back on track from there.
Of course, many people are rooting for Mancini since he’s a cancer survivor, something that was discovered in March 2020 which required the removal of a malignant tumor from his colon. He later underwent chemotherapy to treat the stage 3 colon cancer he was diagnosed with.
Thankfully, Mancini survived, and he was able to get back onto the baseball diamond in 2021.
At 32 years old, he might have experience a bump in the road for his playing career this past season, but he’s looking to overcome that and find a spot with an MLB organization once again.
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