Mayo is driven to deliver for the Orioles after last year’s debut

SARASOTA—The conventional wisdom is that without an injury to a regular infielder, Coby Mayo is going to have a difficult time breaking camp with the Orioles.

Mayo had two stints with the Orioles last season. The first came after Jordan Westburg went on the 10-day injured list with a fractured right hand on August 2^nd. He went 1-for-17 with 10 strikeouts before he was sent down on August 15^th. Mayo was recalled on September 1^st when the rosters were expanded. He was 3-for-24 with 12 strikeouts before he was returned to Triple-A Norfolk on September 21^st.

“An opportunity will present itself if you can show out,” Mayo said. “If I can do what I can do, last spring was a great example of how I can play in this kind of environment. Just looking to do the same thing this year.”

The 4-for-41 start to his major league career doesn’t’ faze the 6-foot-5, 23-year-old, who hit 29 home runs and had 99 RBIs in the minors in 2023.

“It was a great learning experience, something that you can learn from,” Mayo said about playing with the Orioles last season. “I think there’s going to be adversity in your career. You just don’t know when it’s going to happen. That was a big piece of adversity so far in my career. I’m ready to take it head-on, and I think some offseason things just learning from and talking to hitting coaches … all parts of my game, trying to get better everywhere and see where it takes me.”

Leftfielder Colton Cowser had a similar difficult introduction to the major leagues in 2023 when he went 7-for-61 (.115) and rebounded last season and finished second in the American League Rookie of the Year voting.

“Last year, I told him to keep going,” Cowser said. “Just because there’s some things you can’t control when you first come up. It’s a new experience … All you can do is really keep your head down. We talked about expectations and what he wants to accomplish.”

Mayo found out that the cliché may have been true: There is no bigger jump in sports than from Triple-A to the major leagues.

“It’s obviously the toughest, the best of the best players in the world,” Mayo said. “I think it’s a great opportunity to bounce back this spring, just learning from last year, how competitive it is, how much of a microscope you’re under and how good players are up there. Just looking to do that this year.”

Mayo started 10 games at third base and two at first last season. On Friday, he started at first base. He was hitless in two at-bats and is 1-for-13 (.077) so far.

“I think he’s hit a few balls hard at people,” manager Brandon Hyde said after the Orioles’ 13-10 win over the Minnesota Twins on Friday. “There are so few at-bats right now. I’m looking for him to just shrink the strike zone, take good at-bats. Whatever happens after contact happens.”

When the Orioles reported last month, executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias was asked about Mayo’s time in the field this spring.

“I think he’ll play some first base in camp,” Elias said. “I don’t think that the playing time partitioning, particularly at first base with a number of guys, is going to necessarily be an indicator of what they’re going to do throughout the season and where we see them. Some of it is just trying to get guys reps in games.

“He’ll be at first. He’ll be at third. He’ll definitely be in the batter’s box. We’ll see what he does, and the fact that he got his debut out of the way is a really good thing. I think that’s big for young hitters these days and somebody that we think is poised to be a huge contributor this year. We’ll give him a strong look and every opportunity. That may include some first base and some third base in the Grapefruit League.”

Mayo came to camp ready to work.

“All things considered, you don’t really know how things are going to look a month from now, two months from now, maybe even next week or today,” he said. “You never know. Really working on speed, movements in general. I think if you become a better athlete, it helps your game, all parts, hitting, defense, baserunning.”

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