BALTIMORE -- After playing 836 MLB games, hitting 129 home runs and authoring two emotional comeback stories, Trey Mancini is retiring from baseball.
The 34-year-old Winter Haven, Fla., native announced the decision in an Instagram post on Tuesday morning. Mancini was an eighth-round Draft pick of the Orioles in 2013, going on to play 701 games for the franchise over six seasons.
“To every fan, especially those in Birdland, your support over the years has meant the world to me,” Mancini wrote in his post. “There is nothing more special in sports than a connection between a team and their fans, and I was lucky enough to feel that everywhere I played.”
Mancini also played 51 games for the Astros in 2022 -- winning a World Series championship -- as well as 79 for the Cubs in ‘23 and five with the Angels earlier this year.
During Mancini’s time with the O’s from 2016-22, the first baseman/outfielder amassed 10.1 wins above replacement (per Baseball Reference), recording 137 doubles, 117 home runs, 350 RBIs and a .270/.334/.463 slash line. His best year came in ‘19, when he compiled 38 doubles and 35 homers while posting an .899 OPS in 154 games.
In March 2020, Mancini received unexpected news as he was diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer after undergoing a routine blood test early in Spring Training that year. He missed the entire ‘20 season, but he beat the cancer and came back to play for the Orioles at the start of ‘21.
In the years since, Mancini has frequently credited his wife, Sara, for helping him through a difficult time in his life.
“We have been through a lifetime’s worth of experiences together for the last seven years,” Mancini wrote on Tuesday. “You have stood by my side through both unimaginably difficult and incredibly euphoric times. …
“I would also like to give a special thank you to both the athletic trainers during my time as an Oriole and my doctors at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. Simply put, your proactivity and expertise saved my life, and I am forever indebted to you all.”
After Mancini’s brief stints in Houston and Chicago, the slugger didn’t play during the 2024 season. He began a comeback attempt in ‘25, when he signed a Minor League deal with the D-backs. However, he spent the entire year at Triple-A Reno.
Mancini then inked a Minor League deal with the Angels prior to the 2026 campaign, first reporting to Triple-A Salt Lake. He signed with the Halos largely because of his friendship with Brady Anderson, their first-year hitting coach and a former Orioles outfielder who worked in Baltimore’s front office early in Mancini’s tenure with the organization.
In June, Mancini finally got back to the big leagues. He played his first game for the Angels on June 8, going 3-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored vs. the Astros.
Mancini went 4-for-13 (.308) with a triple and four RBIs over his handful of games with the Halos. He was designated for assignment on June 17.
More important than any of the numbers, though, was the fact that Mancini achieved his goal of playing in MLB one more time.
“It was fun to be back out there,” Mancini told MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger in June. “It’s the same emotions you go through when you debut when it’s been that long of a layoff. It was just great to be back out there and something I definitely don’t -- and won’t -- take for granted.”
Now, Mancini’s baseball story -- an inspirational one in a multitude of ways -- is complete.