Orioles' Trey Mancini receives standing ovation, gets hit in first at-bat following battle with colon cancer

The MLB season is officially on the horizon as Grapefruit and Cactus league play began Sunday. Though fans returned in limited capacities at venues in Florida and Arizona, the most touching scene on the first day of spring training games involved the Baltimore Orioles' Trey Mancini.

After producing 35 home runs and 97 RBI for the Orioles in 2019, Mancini seemed primed for even bigger things. But after playing just five exhibitions last year, he needed to end his season to have surgery for colon cancer.

When Mancini came up in the first inning against Pittsburgh, he drew a nice round of applause as he approached the batter’s box and waved to the crowd at Ed Smith Stadium. The cheers kept growing, with pitcher Chad Kuhl stepping off the mound and umpire Will Little cleaning the plate to prolong the salute.

Mancini took off his helmet to acknowledge a standing ovation that included the fans, the Orioles and the Pirates.

“It was amazing,” he said. “I almost teared up a little bit, I’m not going to lie.”

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Moments later, the slugging first baseman, who turns 29 in a few weeks, lined a single to center field.

“It’s almost a year to the day when I was last in a game, so it definitely felt like a moment where we came full circle a little bit,” he said. “I thought more about everything that happened today than I have in a long time. I’ve mostly tried to in a lot of ways just move on and not think too much about last year. But today I ran through all the tough days that we had and really tried to appreciate and cherish today.”