The Houston Astros added slugger Trey Mancini to the trade just before the Aug. 2 trade deadline in a trade with the Baltimore Orioles. Mancini, to say the least, has started his career in Houston and is a reminder of what he could mean to the Astros. In his second game since the trade, he took on the Red Sox, then on Friday night in Cleveland he went deep twice in a 9-3 win over the Guardians. His first homer of the night helped him make some history: And his second homer of the night was the first grand slam of his MLB career: As of this writing, Mancini has three hits as an Astro, and three of those hits were home runs. After Friday night’s big performance, he’s now slashing .268/.345/.425 on the season. No, Mancini isn’t going to continue hitting three home runs per eight at-bats for Houston, but he’ll be a steady source of energy down the stretch and into the postseason. This is first and foremost because he is a very good player and also because he will be better suited to his new stadium. You’ll recall that the Orioles before the season adjusted the dimensions of left field at Camden Yards. The new left field wall is about 30 feet farther from home plate than it was, as well as five feet taller, according to estimates by The Baltimore Sun. While Mancini has strength in all fields, he was hurt badly by these changes in Baltimore. Now he’s in Houston, which has perhaps the most welcoming left-field porch in all of MLB. Perhaps not coincidentally, Mancini has shown a heavier approach since the trade took place. Yes, the data sample is ridiculously small, but we’ll have to watch to see if this trend continues. We know Mancini has plenty of power. He has a 35-game season under his belt, and after missing all of 2020, he hit 21 last year in his first season after beating colon cancer. Now that he’s on a pitch that doesn’t actively work against him — and will likely help him significantly — you might see the return of top Mancini.
