Baltimore Orioles Top Prospect Having Rough Start to Spring Training

This Baltimore Orioles top prospect is having a rough start to spring training.

Mar 2, 2024; Sarasota, Florida, USA; Baltimore Orioles infielder Coby Mayo (86) looks on during the first inning against the New York Yankees at Ed Smith Stadium | Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images

The Baltimore Orioles are loaded with young hitters with a ton of potential.

Players like shortstop Gunnar Henderson and right fielder Colton Cowser are already cornerstones of the franchise. They hope second baseman Jackson Holliday will become another as soon as this season.

All three of those players are 24 years old or younger, giving the Orioles a very bright future

But that's not where their young talent ends.

Corner infielder Coby Mayo is ranked as Baltimore's second-best prospect and No. 14 overall in the entire league.

His path to big league playing time is murky in 2025, as both corner infield spots have starters coming off solid seasons.

Third base is locked down by Jordan Westburg, to the point it would likely take an injury for him to not start on Opening Day. First baseman Ryan Mountcastle has been unspectacular, but stable over the past two years. If Mayo were to leave management with little choice but to elevate him, chances are Mountcastle or designated hitter Ryan O'Hearn would see a role decrease.

The problem is Mayo has done next to nothing through the team's first eight games of spring training.

At the time of writing, he leads the team in at-bats (17) and he's second in games played (seven), yet he only has one hit and one walk to show for it. There's no reason to panic over spring production, but he's slashing .059/.111/.059 so far.

During a 41 at-bat big league stint last year, he slashed .098/.196/.098.

Those are both very small sample sizes, but that's not going to push any solid veterans out of playing time for a contending team like the Orioles.

One silver lining to this slow start is Mayo is seeing the most opportunities on the team despite his lack of production. Spring training is a tune up for established players like Henderson or catcher Adley Rutschman, so what they do in these games is close to meaningless.

For unproven talent like Mayo, it's a showcase and an opportunity to force a bigger role.

Getting this much work indicates management wants him to succeed so they have a difficult decision to make when rosters are finalized. There's still plenty of time for him to be more productive this spring, but it's unlikely he cracks the starting lineup to open the year.

The decision then becomes would he be better suited as a big league role player or to play full time in the minors?

In either scenario, his path to significant playing time comes if a corner infield spot opens up, through either injury or underwhelming play from a current starter.

Considering his slow start and uneventful debut in 2024, it might make sense for power-hitting Mayo to get more at-bats in the minors to start the year.