The 2017 Orioles were a failure of the baseball team overall. This doesn’t mean that everything about them was a failure, though. There were pleasant surprises to be found, including first baseman-turned-outfielder Trey Mancini. If the 2018 Orioles are going to find success, they’re going to need to get another unexpected positive performance from someone this season. They might need more than one.
What was it that made Mancini such a surprise? In some ways, Mancini shouldn’t have been a surprise at all. The only thing that Mancini did at the big league level was continue a trend of solid hitting that he started in Frederick in 2015.