Baltimore Orioles star Trey Mancini stunned fans in April to announce that he had Stage III colon cancer and would miss the 2020 season. He said he had to prepare for six months of chemotherapy. Now Mancini has revealed that he is officially cancer-free and ready to return to his team.
“Speaking on a Zoom just now, Trey Mancini said his most recent bloodwork showed no tumor DNA. He’s working out five days per week and hitting lightly. He plans to be ready for Spring Training and continue his advocacy work through the Colorectal Cancer Alliance,” Orioles beat writer Joe Trezza tweeted on Wednesday morning.
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“Health-wise, I feel great,” Mancini said, per Trezza. “I feel totally like myself.” He also confirmed that returning to the spring training team is likely despite his status as a cancer survivor amid COVID-19. He used fellow cancer survivors Carlos Carrasco and Anthony Rizzo as examples due to both men playing during the 2020 season. “There is no reason for me to believe if Spring Training started tomorrow, I wouldn’t be ready to go. Because I would,” he added.
Mancini originally revealed his diagnosis with an article titled “I’m So Lucky.” He said that he went in for two procedures, expecting to learn that he had celiac disease. However, the doctors informed him that he had a malignant tumor in his colon. He underwent on March 28 to remove the tumor and then began chemotherapy on April 13.
“When I went in for an endoscopy and colonoscopy, the doctors told me that they were really expecting to confirm that I had celiac disease, which is found in your small intestine,” Mancini wrote in an article for the Players Tribune. “When the anesthesia put me under, I believed everything was going to be O.K.” However, Mancini revealed that the situation changed during the procedure.
“He started by eliminating all the possible things it could have been,” Mancini continued. “I was still woozy from the anesthesia, but before he even said the word cancer, I was thinking to myself, There’s no way that he’s about to say what I think he’s about to say. And then he said it: They had found a malignant tumor in my colon.”
With Mancini healthy and ready to return to the field, he can begin preparing for the 2021 season. The current expectation is that spring training will occur despite the coronavirus, but there is no confirmed date. No matter what happens, Mancini has made it clear that he will be ready.
Mancini is currently under contract with Baltimore through the 2022 season after signing a one-year, $4.75 million extension. He will earn $4.75 million in 2021 and then will become a free agent in 2023. Having him return to the lineup will greatly benefit the team, considering that he hit 35 home runs in 2019.
