The Angels selected Trey Mancini to their MLB roster on June 8, 2026, and the veteran first baseman went right into the lineup against the Astros. He started at first base and hit seventh, giving him his first major league appearance in three years.
The move mattered because it was more than a sentimental return. Mancini signed a minor league deal in the offseason, sat out the 2024 season and spent part of 2025 in Triple-A before forcing his way into the conversation with Triple-A Salt Lake. He hit.273/.377/.464 with six home runs in 224 plate appearances, walked 14.3% of the time and struck out 22%, a line that was slightly better than the average Pacific Coast League hitter.
That production helped explain why the Angels were willing to take the shot, even if the track record behind it was thinner than the comeback story suggested. Mancini had not been an above-average big league hitter since he was traded from the Orioles at the 2022 deadline, and his last MLB action before this call-up came with the Cubs in 2023, when he posted a.234/.299/.336 slash line over 79 games. Still, the Angels needed a bat and a body for the opener of their series against Houston, and Mancini fit both needs.
To make room, the club also called up Denzer Guzman and placed Vaughn Grissom on the 10-day injured list with a left oblique strain and Adam Frazier on the 10-day injured list with right elbow inflammation. Yoán Moncada moved from the 10-day injured list to the 60-day injured list, clearing a 40-man roster spot and pushing his $4 million salary further out of trade consideration at the deadline. Nolan Schanuel, back from the injured list over the weekend and in the lineup Saturday and Sunday, got a day off because of lingering soreness, though he said he did not expect to need another stint on the injured list.
Mancini’s return gives the Angels a useful answer for a day, maybe longer, but it also leaves the club with the same question that has followed him since his peak years in Baltimore: whether the bat that played in Triple-A can hold up against major league pitching now. For the moment, the answer is simple enough for June 8. He is back, and he is starting.
