Coby Mayo Keeps Mashing Baseballs And Must Play Everyday With Orioles Season Expiring

Right now, for the Baltimore Orioles, watching Coby Mayo swing the bat is about as good as it gets.

Mayo is having an exceptional second half of the season despite not getting the regular run many would have expected when Blaze Alexander suffered a broken hand and Samuel Basallo was out too, the emergence of Christian Encarnacion-Strand cut into his role, and it’s always seemed like this former top 100 prospect has had to fight and struggle to get a decent runway to perform.

Now 24, and still without a preferred position, watching Mayo crush is baseball is about as good as it gets for the Birds. At a time when the Orioles can’t find a guy for the ninth inning and the rotation that carried them all season is hitting a wall, and the defense and base running cause nightly issues, and Basallo is clearly dealing with a lingering shoulder issue, and Pete Alonso’s Babe Ruthian tear has cooled off, Mayo is still worth watching and, with Alexander now on the IL again (along with Tyler O’Neill, another right-handed bat), one would think Mayo plays everyday until this lost season concludes.

You never want to make assumptions about Orioles lineup decisions and roster deployment, because it tends to be baffling, but Mayo floating between third and first and DH seems to be a no brainer. Getting him into right field next year should be under strong consideration, and for now watching him blast balls to the bleachers against lefties and righties alike offers some job amid a season far too short of it, again.

“The second half of the season he’s shown that he’s resilient,” manager Craig Albernaz said this week, while still hinting that they may not prefer Mayo against some righties. “Going through the first half, just like any young player, navigating the ups and downs of the season, and now you look up … and Coby is starting to get confidence and understand what he does really well in the box.”

Mayo had a two-homer game against Cleveland in a must-win series – off a lefty and a righty – he delivered another blast Wednesday night to help secure the win, and whole Encarnacion-Strand has been better at third, the Orioles must learn from years of stalling their youngster’s development with naïve handling of their roles and regular playing time and see if this slugger can keep it going another few weeks.

Getting The Job Done

Mayo is here to provide power above all else with a hit tool and holes in his swing that failed baseball executive Mike Elias falls for repeatedly. He has major defensive developmental deficiencies that make him the norm, and not unique, in this organization under Elias’s misguided leadership. The key is being enough of a run generator to overcome it.

Mayo remains tops in all of MLB with a 1.127 OPS vs lefties this season. He is just a few homers off the franchise's all-time, single-season record against lefties in a season (18). Mayo is second on the Orioles – to Alonso – with a .911 OPS in the second half of the season (since All-Star break). That includes a ridiculous .578 SLG, which will help management stomach the 43 strikeouts in 147 plate appearances. He

He has 10 homers and 18 extra base hits in 37 stars since the break. Yes, you would prefer his OPS against righties was higher than .650, but Gunnar Henderson has a sub-.700 OPS for the season and has been poor at shortstop and they still bat him third just about every night and put him back at short.

Mayo is clearly taking to the more quasi-regular work, and at this point he knows his power must carry him. He has at least one hit in 12 of his last 13 starts.

Youngster Dylan Beavers pulled out of a recent swoon and pushing the ball to all fields and should be given a similar run to Mayo, and more leadoff at bats for him with Alexander down, but doing the right thing doesn’t come easy to Elias.

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