The Chicago Cubs attempted to improve their offense on Monday by coming to terms with Trey Mancini of Winter Haven, Florida to a two-year contract according to Michael Baumann of fangraphs.com. The Cubs become the third team Mancini has played for in his Major League Baseball career. He was previously with the Baltimore Orioles from 2016 to 2022, before being traded to the Houston Astros on August 1, where he won a World Series.
Better with the Orioles than the Astros
In 2022, Mancini was significantly better while with the Baltimore Orioles than the Houston Astros. He had a better batting average by 92 percentage points in fact. While with the Orioles, he batted .268 with 10 home runs and 41 runs batted in. While with the Astros, Mancini displayed decent power with eight home runs, but struggled with his consistency as he only batted .176, 24 points below the Mendoza Line.
2022 MLB Statistics
In 143 games, 587 plate appearances and 519 at bats, Mancini scored 56 runs and had 124 hits, 23 doubles, one triple, 18 home runs, 63 runs batted in, 53 walks, 203 total bases, and five sacrifice flies. He had an on base percentage of .319 and a slugging percentage of .391.
World Series Champion
One reason why Mancini was not as effective with the Astros as he was with the Orioles in the 2022 postseason might have come down to lack of playing time. Even though Mancini won the first World Series of his career in November, he was anything but effective. He only had one hit in 21 at bats. That came in game six of the World Series. In the series clinching game, Mancini had a single to right field off of Phillies starting pitcher Zach Wheeler to lead off the bottom of the third inning.
One of five acquisitions in the Cubs lineup
Mancini is one of five new Cubs in the batting order in 2023, and the feeling is he will be a designated hitter. Mancini is joined by shortstop Dansby Swanson (free agent from Atlanta), first baseman Eric Hosmer (free agent from Boston), outfielder Cody Bellinger (free agent from the Los Angeles Dodgers) and catcher Tucker Barnhart (free agent from Detroit).
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