Baltimore Orioles: Trey Mancini isn’t the ROTY and that’s ok

The Baltimore Orioles rookie did not win the American League Rookie of the Year Award. However, it is still an honor that he was nominated.

When Baltimore Orioles Trey Mancini was nominated for the AL Rookie of the Year award along with Aaron Judge, it was easy to see that it wasn’t going to be Mancini’s year.

There was no way that Judge, the rookie who hit the most home runs in the AL in the year of the home run, would lose to Mancini or the other nominee, Andrew Benintendi.

Judge won the AL Rookie of the Year award by a unanimous decision. And, it’s perfectly ok that Trey Mancini didn’t win.

Potential for growth

Trey Mancini is a player with the potential to grow. In his rookie season with the Orioles, he hit 24 home runs. But, during his time in the minors, he never hit more than 13 in a season. It isn’t unreasonable to expect him to hit 24 or more home runs again. And, since 24 home runs isn’t an outrageous number, it doesn’t seem like a fluke.

Multi-tool player

Mancini is a multi-tool ball player. He doesn’t just hit home runs. He hit 26 doubles and four triples, as well as a plethora of singles that added to his impressive .293 batting average. And, his extra-base hits contributed to his .488 slugging percentage. His teammate Manny Machado had a lower slugging percentage of .481 in 2017. Being able to get on base and score runs is a necessity, especially since baseball is a team sport.

Hits with consistency

Another reason to be ok with Mancini not being named the Rookie of the Year is the fact that Mancini is seriously consistent. According to Fangraphs, he hits left-handed and right-handed pitchers the same. He literally hit .293 against both. That doesn’t happen often and it makes Mancini a truly dangerous hitter in all circumstances. The 2017 Rookie of the Year doesn’t hit with that consistency.

Mancini is a clutch hitter

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Mancini is also a clutch hitter. In more numbers provided by Fangraphs, Mancini had his best batting averages when runners were in scoring position. In 106 at-bats with RISP, Mancini hit .340. He hit nine home runs and earned 57 RBIs. When men were simply on base, he hit .314 and earned 65 RBIs. On his own, he hit .278. He is certainly a team player. The 2017 AL ROTY actually saw his batting average drop when there were men on base, and it dropped even more when they were in scoring position.

Hits everywhere

Another benefit of having Mancini on the team is that he hits the ball everywhere, with consistency. He tends to pull the ball with a little more regularity when the team is away – but only about 41% of the time. At home he hits evenly to all three fields. That consistency makes it difficult for opposing teams to set up against him. He also does well hitting when teams put a shift on him.

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Mancini is under Orioles control for several more years. This is the best reason to not worry about him not winning the AL ROTY. He will not be a free agent until 2023 and he doesn’t enter arbitration until 2020. Orioles fan will be able to enjoy watching this pure hitter for several more years.