Trey Mancini’s story is one worth telling. He hopes the next chapter is with the Marlins

Trey Mancini last season watched what the Miami Marlins did from a distance. He saw a scrappy team with an underdog mentality push its way into the playoffs and defy the odds they were given.

After being inside the clubhouse for one week of spring training, he has a better understanding of how they got to that point.

“It’s such a close-knit team,” Mancini said. “It’s always great to come in into a situation like that.”

Mancini is with the Marlins on a minor-league deal. The 31-year-old first baseman has a track record for being a professional hitter and can play solid defense but has struggled for the past year and a half, which led to him waiting out a longer-than-expected offseason and signing a prove-it deal.

Should he return to form, Mancini has the potential to lengthen a Marlins lineup that is trying to figure out how to replace 36 home runs lost by Jorge Soler’s departure and give the Marlins a second true first baseman on their roster in addition to Josh Bell.

He has six weeks to make his case.

“I’ve got a lot of experience and have been playing a long time,” Mancini said. “I just want to come in here and fit in seamlessly with this group. They have such a good thing going, and it’s something you want to be a part of. I still think I can contribute a lot. I’ve got a lot left to give on the field too — I really do — and I feel confident I can do that job.”

‘He’s not done yet’

Mancini, who turns 32 on March 18, is entering his eighth MLB season after having previous stints with the Baltimore Orioles (2016-2022), Houston Astros (2022) and Chicago Cubs (2023). He is a career .263 hitter with a .775 on-base-plus-slugging mark, 129 home runs, 156 doubles, 400 RBI and 407 runs scored through 831 games.

However, his production has dipped since being traded from Baltimore to Houston midway through the 2022 season.

In 130 games with Houston and Chicago, Mancini hit just .210 (84 for 400) with 12 home runs and 122 strikeouts. That’s after hitting at least 21 home runs in each of his final four full seasons with Baltimore and only having an on-base-plus-slugging mark below .750 in one of those four seasons.

“Trey’s had a pretty nice career so far,” Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said, “and he’s not done yet.”

But his impact goes beyond the field.

Mancini did not play during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season after being diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer. He underwent multiple rounds of chemotherapy before announcing he was cancer-free in November 2020

He returned to the Orioles’ lineup in 20201 and hit .255 with a .758 OPS, 21 home runs, 33 doubles, 71 RBI and 77 runs scored in 147 games en route to being named the American League’s Comeback Player of the Year.

“The guy’s story — which I always love guys with stories — for me is one of the better ones out there. He’s been through a lot,” Schumaker said. “He feels healthy, ready to go. There’s gonna be a lot of guys that have a chance to make this team and break camp with us and he’s gonna get a lot of opportunity. Everyone I’ve talked to whether it’s in Baltimore or Houston or Chicago says there’s not a better teammate around. Guys love being around him. They gravitate towards him in the cage or on the field. It’s just a nice guy to have in camp with a lot with a lot of young guys around him.”

Time to reflect

Mancini said his offensive struggles from the past couple years stemmed from him trying to make too many adjustments at the plate. Despite having success in Baltimore, he thought there was another level that he needed to hit, and trying to fix things that didn’t need to be fixed messed with him physically and mentally.

“I kept thinking I needed to do more and it got to the point where I was just thinking way too much about what I’m doing physically and what my mechanics were rather than focusing on the pitcher,” Mancini said. “If your full 100 percent focus isn’t on them, you’re screwed at this level. It’s a difficult game, so you want to make sure that you’re all good with your mechanics and confident in what you’re doing. Otherwise, it’s it’s gonna be a tough time. I fell into that trap.”

It led to a lot of free time. The Cubs released Mancini on Aug. 2 and outside of a week with the Cincinnati Reds’ Triple A affiliate, his 2023 season ended there.

Mancini, a Winter Haven native who now lives in Miami spent the past five months mentally resetting while looking for his next opportunity. The time to reflect on how he got to this point and what he needed to do to get back to form was refreshing. He worked out three times a week at Cressey Sports Performance in Palm Beach Gardens.

“I hit way more than I ever have in an offseason,” Mancini said. “And you have time off to reflect. It’s not that you want to have five or six months off, but sometimes it can be good to pinpoint exactly what’s gone wrong and attack that early on and gives you a new perspective on everything.”

Now, he’s up for the next challenge of trying to make a team.

“You always treat spring training very seriously,” Mancini said. “You want to do your work and get ready for the season, but it is a little different when you’re an NRI and trying to make club. You keep the same mentality and ideally you always have the same mentality whether you have a guaranteed spot on the team or not, but yeah, you definitely want to come in really ready to go in this position, even more so than normal.”