Orioles' Trey Mancini: 'No Doubt' I'll Return to MLB After Cancer Diagnosis

Baltimore Orioles slugger Trey Mancini provided a positive update Wednesday, telling MASN he plans to return to baseball after undergoing cancer treatment:

"I fully expect to make a full recovery and be back," he said. "... I have no doubt in my mind I'll be back playing baseball." 

Mancini noted the risks involved, including neuropathy, but indicated he chose his treatment plan to minimize the risk of that side effect and will try to return in time for the 2021 season.

The 28-year-old announced in an essay for The Players' Tribune that he has stage 3 colon cancer and began chemotherapy on April 13.

The Orioles first announced in early March that Mancini was set to have a "non-baseball medical procedure."

The team later announced he had surgery on March 12 to remove a malignant tumor from his colon, via Roch Kubatko of MASN.

General manager Mike Elias provided an update on Mancini in April indicating he would eventually return to the field.

"His health status, personally, the way that the operation went, and the kind-of demographics age-wise and health-wise that he resides in going into this puts him in a really good spot to make a 100 percent recovery both from a general health standpoint, but also a baseball sense," Elias said, per Jon Meoli of the Baltimore Sun.

The GM added the recovery would take "months rather than weeks."

The 2020 MLB season has been delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic, but Mancini indicated he is looking toward next year for his return.

"My treatment will take six months—every two weeks for six months," he wrote. "If baseball returns in 2020, it will probably be without me."

However, he is still encouraged about recovering and returning to the sport eventually.