According to ESPN on Tuesday, Baltimore Orioles outfielder Trey Mancini of Winter Haven, Florida has been diagnosed with cancer. Due to the fact he is recovering from stage three colon cancer, he believes it is unlikely he will be able to join the Orioles in the 2020 Major League Baseball season. Mancini originally had surgery to remove a tumor from his colon on March 12.
This is obviously a huge blow to the Orioles organization. Mancini led the Orioles in 2019 with 35 home runs, 97 runs batted in, 63 walks, 38 doubles, 322 total bases, and five sacrifice flies. He also had a batting average of .291 with 106 runs, 175 hits, two triples, a .364 on base percentage and a .535 slugging percentage.
The Orioles are already in a position of rebuilding, and now they are going to lose one of their most experienced leaders. Mancini had been with the Orioles since the 2016 Major League Baseball regular season.
The Orioles are expected to go with another player from Florida to fill Mancini’s shoes in right field. DJ Stewart of Gainesville, Florida is the new projected starter for Baltimore. Last season, Stewart played his second season of Major League Baseball in a reserve role. He batted .238 with four home runs and 15 runs batted in during 44 games. In 126 at bats, Stewart also scored 15 runs and had 30 hits, six doubles, one stolen base, 14 walks, a .317 on base percentage, a .381 slugging percentage, 48 total bases, one sacrifice fly and one hit by pitch.
In other Major League Baseball news, there is some growing optimism that the season may start in July. According to Bob Nightengale of USA Today,executives are discussing a plan with the MLBPA of starting the season in a period between late June and early July. There are currently 1,035, 765 cases of coronavirus in the United States and 59, 266 deaths.
