Trey Mancini Likely Out For 2020 Season, Due To Colon Cancer Treatments

The Baltimore Orioles and Trey Mancini haven’t said much about his illness other than the fact that he has colon cancer. There hasn’t been much information given out until Mancini wrote an article in The Players Tribune on April 28 called “I Am So Lucky.”

Mancini details that a second round of blood tests this spring showed low iron levels — even lower than in the first tests he took. Doctors discovered he had Stage III colon cancer, so Mancini underwent surgery and began chemotherapy on April 13. He’ll have that every two weeks for six months, and as this writer can say from personal experience on this topic, the treatments make you feel more tired as time goes on.

That’s why it’s unlikely Mancini will be on the field this season, something he basically confirmed in the article.

“If baseball returns in 2020, it will probably be without me,” Mancini said in the article.

Mancini also emphasized in the article that he’s getting used to everything and doing fine.

“I want everybody to know that I’m O.K. I know reading everything and seeing that I had a malignant tumor removed from my colon, it’s a lot to absorb — believe me, I know,” Mancini wrote. “And I have no doubt that, even when I’m doing chemo, I can work out and do some things. So, whenever the time comes for me to come back to baseball, I’ll be ready. But I just want to make sure that I am physically fine before I go out there and start trying to perform again at a major league level.”

He said that getting on the field feeling as strong as he can be — even if it’s in Spring Training 2021 — is the goal. Mancini will need to work on regaining his endurance because of what the treatments do to you, and the question there is how long this could take.

The Orioles were counting on the right fielder/first baseman as a powerful bat in their lineup this season. Last year, the first of the team’s possibly long rebuilding process, Mancini did his best work in the majors, hitting .291 with 35 homers and 97 RBI. He developed into the leader on offense for a team that desperate needed punch.

Baltimore likely simply wants to see Mancini healthy again and back on the field. There were numerous trade rumors about him last season but he stayed with the Orioles, which turned out to be a good move for the team overall.

Cancer is much bigger than baseball, and as Mancini wrote in the article, he’s going through all of these treatments alone due to the COVID-19 situation. That’s fine with him, he said. Mancini isn’t worried about driving to the treatments himself. If you’re looking at baseball, the biggest question is going to be how Mancini, who turned 28 last month, comes through everything physically.

But he’s going to have to do this one step at a time, and Mancini said he’s already looking forward to Spring Training 2021. Hopefully by then, he’ll be feeling more like himself with colon cancer and chemotherapy in the rear-view mirror and ready to play again.