Baltimore Orioles Slugger Named Top Third Base Prospect in Latest Rankings

MLB Pipeline has put out their third base prospect rankings, and this Baltimore Orioles prospect topped the list.

Baltimore Orioles infielder Coby Mayo scores a run during the fifth inning against the Boston Red Sox at Ed Smith Stadium. | Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images

MLB Pipeline is halfway through its positional rankings, as it continued its Top 10 prospects at every position.

The third base position was the most recent to be analyzed, and Coby Mayo of the Baltimore Orioles ranked at the top third baseman. Mayo is the Orioles' No. 1 prospect, as ranked by MLB Pipeline and made his MLB debut last year, though he hasn't played enough games to graduate from prospect status.

Baltimore selected Mayo in the fourth round of the 2020 MLB Draft, and signed a $1.75 million bonus to forego playing collegiate baseball for the University of Florida.

He was unable to play in 2020 as minor league baseball was shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. After that, he followed a progressive track, starting out in the Florida Complex League in 2021, moving to Double-A by the end of the 2022 season and then earning a promotion to Triple-A Norfolk in 2023.

Last year he spent much of the time at Norfolk, along with a short injury rehab stint at High-A. He made his MLB debut in early August and struggled immensely at the plate, resulting in being sent back down to Norfolk after seven games. He was called back up in September, and played on and off for the remainder of the month, improving slightly at the plate.

In 17 games and 41 at bats with the Orioles, Mayo slashed .098/.196/.293 splits with four runs, along with four walks to 22 strikeouts. He was solid in the field, with 15 putouts, eight assists, two double plays and one error in 88 innings, finishing with a 1.000 at first base and .909 at third base.

At Norfolk, he showed exactly why he is valued as a high-level prospect. In 89 games he slashed .287/.364/.926 with 67 RBI, 61 runs, 22 home runs, 40 walks to 97 strikeouts and four stolen bases. He fielded at a strong level, posting a .959 fielding percentage at first base and a .940 rate at third base (17 total errors in 729.1 innings).

That type of production is indicative of what type of player Mayo could be. Given the right amount of time and coaching, he could emerge as a quality player at the MLB level. The question the Orioles will have to answer is where he'll play. While he's ranked as the top third baseman, he can also play first base and that could, ultimately, be his more natural path to the Majors.