Throughout the winter, Trey Mancini hoped, come February, he would be reporting to a Major League Baseball camp. The former Orioles star was out of the game last season, but the first baseman believed he had more in the tank.

“I really do think I have something left to give the game,” Mancini told The Baltimore Banner in November. “I’m going to prepare and act as though I’m going to spring training, and just hoping and trying and praying that the opportunity arises.”

On Friday, one did.

Mancini agreed to a minor league deal with a spring training invitation, two sources with direct knowledge of the situation told The Banner, confirming ESPN’s report. With the Arizona Diamondbacks, Mancini will compete in camp for a position on the opening day roster. But, even if he doesn’t land a major league spot, Mancini will get the chance to compete he longed for.

Mancini became a star in Baltimore, serving as an everyday player from 2017 to 2019. But, before the start of the 2020 season, the 27-year-old received a diagnosis of Stage 3 colon cancer that interrupted his career. He credits the Orioles’ medical staff and the Johns Hopkins Hospital for saving his life.

He returned to the sport in 2021 and competed in the Home Run Derby, and in 2022 he earned a World Series ring with the Houston Astros after the Orioles completed a midseason trade. But his performances after leaving Baltimore weren’t consistent and in 2023 he played just 79 games for the Chicago Cubs.

“There was a bigger threat than losing my job in baseball, which was my worst fear before the cancer diagnosis,” Mancini said in November as he recalled his post-cancer mental health. “I think it was just enough of a distraction to where it was just more difficult to get through the slumps, or correct any physical mistakes going on, or mental approach mistakes. Like, it just didn’t come as easy.”

He considered whether that would be the end of his time in the majors. But as 2024 continued, and as his love of baseball renewed, he picked up a bat again.

“I think it’s easy to think that just ’cause your performance dropped, especially after what I went through, it’s OK to take it to the house and still look back and be happy with what you accomplished — which I am,” Mancini said in November. “But I think, at the same time, I don’t exactly love how things ended with my career, and I really do think if I’m in the right situation I can still be an impact bat. And I know saying that means nothing and I’d have to go out there and prove it, but I’m fully ready to go do that. I just kind of got that hunger back, out of nowhere, honestly.”

Mancini will have that opportunity this month with the Diamondbacks. He’ll be back on a baseball field. That’s all he wanted — another chance.