Trey Mancini Was The Ultimate Comeback Player In 2021

The 29-year-old has been through the unthinkable recently, making his 2021 season inspirational in more ways than one.

All things considered, he’s one of the most deserving players to ever win Comeback Player of the Year honors.

Mancini Missed All Of The 2020 Season After Being Diagnosed With Cancer

Before the 2020 MLB season started, Mancini revealed that he had been diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer.

“If baseball returns in 2020, it will probably be without me,” he wrote in April of 2020 when announcing the diagnosis.

Mancini did indeed miss the entire 2020 season while he underwent biweekly chemotherapy treatments.

Thankfully, he courageously beat the disease, which he announced in November of the same year.

He also announced that he intended to play for the Orioles again, which was one of the best developments of the entire calendar year.

The baseball community rejoiced, as it was obviously the best possible outcome.

And roughly a year after he announced his diagnosis to the world, he was back on the field and in Baltimore’s starting lineup.

“There were times early on when I wasn’t entirely sure I’d be playing baseball again,” Mancini said. “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.”

Simply getting back on the diamond was an unbelievable feat in itself, but Mancini didn’t stop there.

He put together a really solid 2021 campaign and was one of the Orioles’ best players throughout the year.

Mancini’s 2021 Season At A Glance

Mancini appeared in 147 games in 2021.

Of those 147 games, one of the best moments came when Mancini returned to Camden Yards for his first home game since the diagnosis.

The University of Notre Dame product put together a really good 2021 campaign statistically.

He smacked 21 home runs, 33 doubles, and a triple en route to 240 total bases.

He also posted an above-average OPS+ of 104.

At one point in the season, Mancini went on an extremely impressive 24-game tear in which he batted .344 with a 1.043 OPS.

That was a fantastic sight to see, as he was one of the league’s top players during that span.

The Orioles were tough to watch in 2021, but Mancini gave fans a reason to tune in.

Going forward, the former eighth-round pick figures to have a bright future in the big leagues.

The Orioles have him under club control for one more season.

After that, he’ll become a free agent, and he’ll have the ability to choose the next chapter in his MLB career.

Wherever he lands, he will always serve as an inspiration to everyone in the baseball world.