When new Cubs first baseman Trey Mancini found out that White Sox reliever Liam Hendriks had been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, he tracked down Hendriks’ phone number.
On Hendriks’ first day of treatment, Mancini, a cancer survivor, reached out to say, “If you need any advice, I’m here.”
“Different chemos,” Mancini said Monday. “But at the same time, you’re not going to be feeling ideal whenever you’re going through it. So, I wanted him to know I have some advice at least on what makes you feel better during chemo and how to get through it a little bit better.”
The Cubs introduced Mancini, who joins the team on a two-year deal worth $14 million guaranteed, in a Zoom news conference Monday. His reputation for his power bat — a slump late last season aside — fills a need in the Cubs’ lineup. But it was clear they also valued Mancini’s off-the-field reputation.
Mancini was the comeback player of the year in 2021, returning from battling Stage 3 colon cancer the year before. He says now that his leg strength going into that season “wasn’t even close” to what it had been before surgery and six months of chemotherapy. But he still mashed 21 home runs in 2021.
Mancini has spent most of his career with the Orioles, who in 2013 drafted him in the eighth round — that is, until a three-team trade at the deadline last year sent him to Houston. There, he hit a slump, his batting average dropping to .176 with the Astros.
“I handled it all well,” he said. “Just, unfortunately, slumped that at the wrong time and got in some bad habits at the plate mechanically. But you learn a lot. And I think I powered through really well. And we won the World Series, which was amazing, and I got to contribute in the end there.”
When a collision on the base paths in Game 5 of the World Series sidelined Astros first baseman Yuli Gurriel for the rest of the postseason, Mancini stepped in. The next inning, Mancini made a game-saving play at first base. The next game, he logged his first hit of the playoffs.
Now, he’s bringing those lessons to a Cubs team pulling itself out of a rebuild.
“Experience matters at this level,” Mancini said. “When I was a rookie, I sought out the advice of all the veterans that were on the team, like Mark Trumbo, Adam Jones, Chris Davis, J.J. Hardy, the list goes on and on. And that helped me a lot to grow as a player.”
Mancini’s status as a veteran joining a new team also made him rethink his commitment to Team Italy for the World Baseball Classic this spring.
“A lot of times when you’re around a new team and wanting to get to know the guys, it’s important to be there all the spring,” Mancini said. “So that’s on me for not holding off until I knew what situation I was going into.”
The Cubs have added two veteran first baseman this offseason, Mancini and Eric Hosmer, one who bats from the right side and one from the left. Mancini emphasized his ability to also play corner outfield and serve as the designated hitter. He said manager David Ross told him opposing pitching matchups would determine where he’d play in the field on any given day.
This offseason, Mancini has been focussed on getting back to an up-the-middle approach at the plate, not pulling the ball too much. That’s something he noticed he got away from last season.
“Before I went through [fighting cancer], baseball slumps were the biggest issue I had ever faced in my life,” he said. “And I’m lucky to say that was the biggest problem that I had. But it puts a lot of things in perspective.”
The intensity and drive that he approaches his job with hasn’t changed.
“But it does make you realize what a real problem is, and what a baseball problem is,” he said. “And you can get through any of them.”
