For the first time, Notre Dame will have representation in Major League Baseball’s Home Run Derby. That representation will come from Baltimore Orioles slugger Trey Mancini. The Irish baseball Twitter account sent its congratulations his way:
Big congrats to our guy @TreyMancini for getting the invite to the Home Run Derby!#IrishInMLB pic.twitter.com/C6yvxA3y7g
— Notre Dame Baseball (@NDBaseball) June 27, 2021
Mancini has 14 home runs this season and is among the major-league leaders in RBIs with 52. He joins a field that currently has Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angels Angels and defending champion Pete Alonso of the New York Mets. The field will be rounded out with five more participants before the event is held July 12 at Coors Field in Denver. It will serve as a tuneup for the All-Star Game the next day.
Mancini is in the middle of quite the comeback season after he missed 2020 to be treated for Stage 3 colon cancer. However, the Orioles are dead-last in the American League and pretty much have no further use for Mancini’s services. It’s likely he gets moved at or before the trade deadline, and there are a few teams that could benefit from him.