Mancini in fight to make the club

With obstructed path to majors, advanced young slugger out to prove himself

SARASOTA, FLA. — Trey Mancini was a relatively unknown minor leaguer shuttled in from Twin Lakes Park to play in the late innings of early spring Grapefruit League games, when he was first noticed by Orioles front office executive Brady Anderson.

In his first two years as a professional, Mancini showed he had a knack for hitting, but he had yet to find the power stroke needed to truly open eyes, with just 13 total home runs. Anderson, the team’s vice president of baseball operations, was in the Orioles dugout at Ed Smith Stadium and took note of Mancini in the on-deck circle before an eighth-inning at-bat against the Toronto Blue Jays on March 5, 2015. He seemed hyper, and a little bit rushed. Mancini went to the plate, took a strike, fouled a pitch off and shortly thereafter struck out. It was an unmemorable at-bat by most standards, but Mancini and Anderson remember it well.

“I had never met him and I had only seen him hit on film,” Anderson said. “As soon as he took his first swing, I called [player development director] Brian Graham and told him, ‘Hey, get this guy here tomorrow.’ ”

Mancini returned to big league camp the next day, and worked with Anderson for the next four days. They worked on the way he stood in the batter’s box and concentrated on adjusting his swing to produce more power. They talked about sequencing an at-bat, the mentality of getting a pitch to hit.

“He wanted to change my stance and my preparation — standing a little more upright and having my back a little straighter, and that gives me some more leverage and I can TV: Radio: