Marlins sign Trey Mancini to minor league deal

[Ely Sussman]

Trey Mancini is coming to Marlins camp this spring on a minor league deal, as first reported by the New York Post's Jon Heyman (and confirmed by Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald).

The Marlins have previously signed Matt Andriese, Jonathan Davis, Tristan Gray and several others as non-roster invitees, but Mancini comes with the highest profile. He has slashed .263/.328/.448 (109 wRC+) in 831 games across seven MLB seasons, accruing 6.3 fWAR.

Best known for reaching his 35-homer peak with the 2019 Baltimore Orioles, Mancini won a World Series title with the 2022 Houston Astros. Last offseason, he signed a two-year, $14M deal with the Chicago Cubs, but got designated for assignment in August. He briefly played in Triple-A for the Cincinnati Reds organization, though they declined to call him up for their September playoff push.

Mancini's defensive reps have been evenly split between first base and the corner outfield spots (with plenty of DH reps as well). He is below average no matter where you put him.

Trey Mancini Career Hitting Stats

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+	TB	GDP	HBP	SH	SF	IBB	Pos	Awards
2016	24	BAL	AL	5	15	14	3	5	1	0	3	5	0	0	0	4	.357	.400	1.071	1.471	274	15	0	1	0	0	0	/DH
2017	25	BAL	AL	147	586	543	65	159	26	4	24	78	1	0	33	139	.293	.338	.488	.826	120	265	12	6	0	4	1	73D/H9	RoY-3
2018	26	BAL	AL	156	636	582	69	141	23	3	24	58	0	1	44	153	.242	.299	.416	.715	95	242	17	5	0	5	1	73D/H
2019	27	BAL	AL	154	679	602	106	175	38	2	35	97	1	0	63	143	.291	.364	.535	.899	134	322	22	9	0	5	3	93D/7H
2020			Did not play in major or minor leagues (Illness)
2021	29	BAL	AL	147	616	556	77	142	33	1	21	71	0	0	51	143	.255	.326	.432	.758	106	240	19	8	0	1	4	3D/H
2022	30	TOT	AL	143	587	519	56	124	23	1	18	63	0	0	53	135	.239	.319	.391	.710	103	203	12	10	0	5	2	D379/H
2022	30	BAL	AL	92	401	354	39	95	16	1	10	41	0	0	35	86	.268	.347	.404	.751	116	143	4	9	0	3	2	D39/7H
2022	30	HOU	AL	51	186	165	17	29	7	0	8	22	0	0	18	49	.176	.258	.364	.622	76	60	8	1	0	2	0	D73/H9
2023	31	CHC	NL	79	263	235	31	55	12	0	4	28	0	0	21	78	.234	.299	.336	.635	71	79	5	2	0	3	1	3DH/9
7 Yrs				831	3382	3051	407	801	156	11	129	400	2	1	265	795	.263	.328	.448	.775	110	1366	87	41	0	23	12

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

Recent production makes ex-Marlins All-Star Jorge Soler the far more desirable player. That being said, you may be surprised by how eerily similar their career stats are. Both are entering their age-32 season, too.

Mancini's chances of cracking the Marlins Opening Day roster would be fairly strong if any one of Josh Bell, Jake Burger, Bryan De La Cruz. Avisaíl García or Jesús Sánchez were to suffer a preseason injury. For him to force the issue without a corresponding injury, he'd need to demonstrate that his 2023 power outage (4 HR in 263 PA) was an anomaly.

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[Brock Beauchamp]

I really want to see Mancini do well, hope he's able to bounce back after his disastrous stint with the Cubs.

[Sean Millerick]

I'm somewhat encouraged by the career platoon splits. One point diffference between his BA vs righties and lefties. 

Granted, gap was much wider in 2023. 

Interesting to see how it plays out. 

[Ely Sussman]

17 hours ago, Sean Millerick said:

I'm somewhat encouraged by the career platoon splits. One point diffference between his BA vs righties and lefties. 

Granted, gap was much wider in 2023. 

Interesting to see how it plays out. 

The everyday player upside is still there. That's very ambitious, though. I'd almost prefer it if he had extreme splits, something to indicate with more certainty that he can help as a part-time guy like old friend Coop, who raked against LHP last season. Maybe that's why Mancini is a minor league deal guy while Coop is destined for some kind of guarantee.