Mancini finally shows off his power stroke

His 1st homer of spring highlights O’s offense Friday

On Thursday’s day off, Trey Mancini said Orioles hitting coach Don Long texted him with what he thought could be a key to unlocking the slugger’s swing that Mancini has been searching for all spring.

The resulting work helped Mancini drive his first home run of the spring Friday against the Pittsburgh Pirates on a day that he thought could represent a turning point in his comeback from colon cancer.

“It felt really good,” Mancini said. “It’s been no different feeling for a lot of spring trainings. It kind of takes me a while to get it going again and start driving the ball like that. … It was definitely good to connect with one there. It had been a long time since I had that feeling, for sure.”

Mancini, who turned 29 on Thursday, singled in the first inning before hitting the sixth straight slider from Edgar Santana deep to left-center field for his first extra-base hit of the spring.

It’s been a steady progression for Mancini, who was away from the game for nearly a year in 2020 after being diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer early in spring training.

Mancini had surgery to remove a malignant tumor on March 12, 2020, and had six months of chemotherapy that ended in September.

His comeback has been one of the feelgood stories of camp, with the fans at Ed Smith Stadium giving him a standing ovation on his debut Feb. 28. He collected a hit in his first at-bat, but that one, like the ensuing eight hits he had, were all singles before Friday’s home run.

While Mancini thinks he’s ready for a full season after starting workouts in the fall to prepare his body, that didn’t change how his springs typically go.

“It’s about on par with what I expected,” Mancini said. “I knew that there would be some at-bats where I felt like I never left and then some at-bats where I just felt overmatched for whatever reason.

“It’s been like that pretty consistently for the most part, and even within the same game. One at-bat I’ll feel great and I’ll strike out the

next two and be like, ‘What is going on?’ I will have that thought sometimes, but that’s how I am every spring.

“It’s no different from how I’ve been my entire life gearing up for a season. I feel pretty good up there at the plate.”

His home run will certainly keep him from thinking that Friday.

Dean Kremer, who started the game for the Orioles, said the team was in awe of the drive, which went against the wind that was blowing out to right field and still nearly left LECOM Park entirely.

“That was a nuke,” he said. “That was hit pretty far. Everybody was with their jaw on the floor with how far it was hit. I mean, everybody loved it. It’s good to see him back to what he was in the previous years.”

Manager Brandon Hyde said this week that Mancini was showing everything he could ask for in the first half of spring training.

“My expectations for Trey are that I hope he feels good every day, and right now he does,” Hyde said. “He’s in a great place physically and mentally, so it’s just a day-to-day conversation between me and him if he’s ready to go the next day. And every day I’ve asked him, he is. So that’s just going to continue for the rest of the season.”

If the Orioles could ask for anything to be happening on a more accelerated schedule for Mancini, it might be his reacclimation to first base after spending years in the outfield accommodating Chris Davis.

Mancini has three errors on his account so far this spring and has been on the receiving end of some less-than-ideal throws from the rest of the infielders that he hasn’t been able to scoop.

That progress will come with experience, but not being as ready on the infield dirt at this point in spring will undoubtedly frustrate a player who holds himself to a high standard.

“I feel like I have some things to work on,” Mancini said. “I’m shaking off some rust out there and I haven’t shown out there as well as I think I could. So I’m really trying to focus a lot on defense.”