Orlando Cepeda Jersey , Trey Mancini was yet another Oriole who underperformed, both offensively and defensively."WhiteFanposts Fanshots Sections Commentary & AnalysisOrioles ProspectsOrioles Game RecapsOrioles News and RumorsCamdencastCommentary & AnalysisThe sophomore slump hit Trey Mancini hard in 2018New,8commentsWith a dropoff from his stellar rookie campaign, Trey Mancini was yet another Oriole who underperformed, both offensively and defensively.Jones almost certainly will be, too. Mark Trumbo will be three years removed from his last healthy, productive season, and might still be sidelined by injury to start 2019. And Chris Davis? Hahaha! Good one.Almost by default, the Orioles’ most likely middle-of-the-order man next year is their homegrown, soon-to-be 27-year-old slugger, Trey Mancini.If that doesn’t exactly fill you with confidence, well, I don’t blame you. Any lineup in which Trey Mancini is the anchor probably isn’t going to score a lot of runs, at least if he doesn’t improve on his 2018 campaign.Entering the season, the O’s were counting on Mancini to be one of their top thumpers, thanks to a breakout 2017 in which he hit .293/.338/.488, socked 24 homers, and finished third in the AL Rookie of the Year vote behind Aaron Judge and Andrew Benintendi. That, I regret to inform you, is probably the last time Mancini will ever be mentioned in the same breath as Judge and Benintendi.Mancini’s sophomore season, simply put, was a dud. The best thing to be said is that his home run power remained consistent; he socked 24 roundtrippers for the second straight year
Keith Hernandez Jersey , tying for the team lead (with Machado, who was traded in July). But across the board, Mancini’s offensive numbers fell off the table. His batting average dipped more than 50 points (to .242), his OBP fell below the .300 mark (to .299), and he lost 72 points of slugging (to .416).What the heck happened? It’s not immediately clear. In 2018 compared to 2017, Mancini’s line drive and fly ball rate both dipped a bit while his ground ball rate rose, but not alarmingly so. His ratio of softly hit, medium hit, and hard hit batted balls remained almost the same in both seasons. He might have gotten a bit unlucky in 2018 — or at least, not as lucky as 2017.
