Trey Mancini got to experience life in the majors one last time, which is all that he wanted to do before walking away for good. To prove to himself and anyone else that he could make it back after the Cubs released him in the summer of 2023.

Mancini appeared in five games with the Angels this season, and the decision was made after he didn’t hear from another team.

He’s finished with baseball.

The former eighth-round draft pick of the Orioles is retiring, with an announcement expected later today.

“I knew after I got DFA’d that unless I somehow got claimed that I was gonna be done, but I wanted to take some time and not retire immediately,” he said last night in a phone call.

“It all worked out, as long as it took to get back up. Yeah, I’m excited.”

Mancini, 34, broke into the majors in 2016 after the Orioles selected him out of Notre Dame, and he finished third in American League Rookie of the Year voting the following season. He played in 701 games with the Orioles, batting .270/.334/.463 with 117 home runs, before they traded him to the Astros at the 2022 deadline.

The Cubs signed Mancini to a two-year, $14 million contract in January 2023 but let him go in August. He also was released by the Reds, Marlins and Diamondbacks while playing in Triple-A.

Mancini was idle in 2024, hit .308/.373/.552 with 16 doubles, 16 home runs and 62 RBIs in 74 games with Reno in 2025 and still couldn’t get the call. He signed a minor league deal with the Angels in January, had his contract selected on June 8 and was 3-for-4 with an RBI in his first major league game in 1,043 days. Mancini went 4-for-13 with a triple and four RBIs but was designated for assignment.

Next came a family meeting with Mancini and wife Sara Perlman. Daughter Sadie, born in October, was mostly a spectator.

“Even when you know you’re done, it’s hard to like really officially do it and have that finality,” Mancini said. “I think I knew over the last few years that I could still make it back up, and that was the main goal. Three years ago I felt so far away and removed from the game, and really at that point after getting DFA’d by the Cubs had lost all confidence. Just kind of wanted to be away from the game and thought I was done. But as time went on, something in me just wasn’t sitting right and I wanted to get back out there and at the very least prove to myself that I could still play, because I thought that I could. And I’m glad I did and glad I stuck it out.

“Now that I had that experience this year, it feels good to officially retire.”

Mancini earned a World Series ring with the Astros. He leaves with a career .263/.327/.448 line with 156 doubles, 12 triples, 129 homers and 404 RBIs in 3,396 plate appearances.

“I knew that it would be really hard for me at my age, with my position being what it is, to stay,” he said. “Basically, people are going to go for the younger guy, which I completely understand. With the whole goal of making it back to the majors, it felt complete after I got DFA’s and got that last taste of the big leagues.”

Being a first-time father pushed him further away from the field.

“Quite frankly, I was about to retire right before the Angels called me up anyway,” he said. “It was really hard being away from Sara and Sadie for that long. I missed a solid two, 2 ½ months of her growing up and developing. I’d try to get home to Nashville on the off-days if I could. They visited me here and there, but it was definitely tough being away from them, so it had a big impact on the decision and definitely makes the decision easier, too.”

Those last handful of games created what Mancini called a “cool full-circle moment.”

“I really got brought back to that start,” he said. “My end goal ended up being the same one that I started with my whole life, so it felt like making the majors all over again, but it hit differently at 34, having experienced everything that I have. It just kind of takes you back where you were as a kid and making your major league debut for the first time. Getting to experience all those emotions all over again is something I’ll never forget.

“Having Sara and Sadie in the stands this time was just so special. I never in a million years thought I’d get to play baseball in front of my daughter, so it made it all worth it.”

The full circle also is completed with Brady Anderson, first as a special assistant with the Orioles and this year as the Angels’ hitting coach. Anderson was a huge proponent of having Mancini on the 2017 Opening Day roster, saying the kid had nothing else to prove in the minors and absolutely was going to hit.

“I genuinely don’t think I have close to the career that I did, especially in Baltimore, without Brady,” Mancini said. “He changed my swing. It was definitely a bit of a risk at the time to change it at age 23 and recreate myself as a hitter in some ways, trying to go for more power, and it worked really well. I owe so much of my career to him, and not only Brady. Even in the last few weeks of my career, I leaned on him. Don Long, Ryan Fuller, all three of them I had been in contact with, so it’s just funny.

“There are so many people that the Orioles employed that if I started naming more names, I’m gonna have to list like 50 of them. There’s so many people, and they know who they are, that had such a profound impact on my career and I just feel so lucky to be drafted to the organization that I was.”

The Orioles developed Mancini, introduced him to the majors, supported and loved him through a Stage 3 colon cancer diagnosis in March 2020 that kept him out for the entire season. They cheered him in the 2021 Home Run Derby, when he reached the finals before losing to Pete Alonso. And they celebrated his inside-the-park home run at Camden Yards in his final Orioles at-bat before the trade.

The man might hold the franchise record for emotional moments.

What’s next for Mancini besides full-time work as a Girl Dad?

“We’ll see what the next chapter brings,” he said. “I was starting to get into public speaking before the Angels reached out this year, so I’d be interested in getting back into that. Maybe doing a little broadcasting.

“I definitely will want to do something. Thirty-four is pretty young to be fully retired. I can’t play that much tennis.”

About last night …

The Orioles couldn’t complete a four-game sweep of the Rays, losing 7-6 at Tropicana Field and settling for the series win. They failed again to get within one game of .500 and are tied for the third Wild Card spot.

Yennier Cano faced four batters in the seventh inning, retired none and was charged with three runs after the Orioles led 6-4. Josh Walker let two inherited runners score.

Former Oriole Bryan Baker recorded the five-out save. The Orioles went 5-5 on the trip.

Coby Mayo hit a 468-foot home run off left-hander Shane McClanahan in the second inning, the longest by an Oriole this season. The exit velocity was 114.2 mph.

Mayo also doubled in the fourth inning at 111.1 mph to continue his assault on left-handed pitching.

Christian Encarnacion-Strand remains a hugely important acquisition by president of baseball operations Mike Elias. He had a two-run single in the fourth, a two-run homer in the fifth off former Orioles reliever Tyler Wells on a 359-foot towering fly ball to left field with a 47-degree launch angle, and a two-out single off Baker in the ninth.

Pete Alonso began the inning with a game-tying homer to right field. Thirteen of his 28 home runs have gone to the opposite field, the most in the majors.

Alonso also singled in the sixth after being named the American League’s Player of the Week.

Brandon Young allowed four runs and eight hits, including three homers, over four innings to leave his ERA at 3.52. Former Oriole Jorge Mateo had a two-run shot in the fourth that briefly gave the Rays a 4-3 lead.

Cam Sanders retired all six batters he faced to lower his Orioles ERA to 2.16 in seven appearances.