Orioles Refuse To Give Coby Mayo Regular At Bats, Begging Major Questions About His Future

Among his many failures, Orioles baseball czar Mike Elias has zero feel for empowering prospects or maximizing their playing opportunities during the many seasons in which his team has no chance to compete for anything real.

Like, yet again, 2026. That’s The Elias Way.

As much as he talks these kids up, and refuses to trade them when they hold real value, he is beyond reticent to actually play them. It's maddening. Elias prefers sticking with bizarre fetishes like Ramon Urias or Austin Slater or Eloy Jimenez or, now, Christian Encarnacion-Strand, instead of alleged potential pillars of his perpetual rebuild (because he thinks salvaging former top prospects on the cheap makes him look smart).

So kids get squeezed out and their development stalls in part due to sporadic work and time gets wasted. It’s always happening on Elias’s watch and now Coby Mayo is being stunted by it. Mayo was supposed to be a key piece to the 2024 failed playoff run, and now Elias has sold talent again in 2026 and yet Mayo still can’t get a regular look despite being a top five hitter against left-handed pitching this season.

We still don’t know what to make of him, or what he could really do here, and you have to wonder if anything will be any different come 2027. Even with third baseman Blaze Alexander – shocking MLB as a top 10 hitter in the league from April 28 until he got hurt just before the All-Star break – out indefinitely, Elias got enamored by a few quick homers from Encarnacion-Strand over Mayo, who does have 15 of his own this season.

Nothing Ever Changes

The fact Mayo, 24, can’t play third base well was always going to be the case, and they blocked him at first with the Pete Alonso signing. They never let him work in right field – where his huge arm would play well – his entire minor-league career, which is part of this player-development fail. But while CES is better than Mayo, he’s anything but a plus glove himself and he’s cooled off after a torrid start but continues to get most of the chances against right-handed hitting over Mayo.

Since the All-Star break, Mayo is just eighth on the team in plate appearances, despite a .275/.310/.625 slash – that’s a ridiculous .935 folks. Now, is that just because they don’t want him to see any righties? Because he has flashed some power against them recently and he has a .903 OPS in 25 PA against RHP since the break.

He doesn't walk nearly enough and the big swing would also lead to a lot of swing-and-miss, but Elias is always willing to make that gamble if power is the payoff. And Mayo's on-base (.271 for the season) is extreme, but some of the power outcomes have been as well, despite such sporadic looks.

One may have thought with Adley Rutschman traded, Mayo might get more DH looks. But Elias is more concerned about trying not to look like a fool for that silly Tyler O’Neill contract, so he has to make sure that right-handed bat gets his opportunities despite zero upside.

What Elias chooses when Alexander comes back – and the Orioles keep hinting that may not be far off – will be telling. Encarnacion-Strand or Jeremiah Jackson would make the most sense to depart, but opportunities for Mayo will be even more scant regardless. And Mayo, regardless, is on pace for yet another season where he doesn’t sniff 400 at bats let alone 500, and he still looks positionless and his days as a top 100 prospect seem far ago.

It's a constant cycle of failure here. No real corrective measures. No philosophical changes in player deployment. Elias ensures as much.

Even young talents as robust as Gunnar Henderson have seen their careers go drastically in reverse with Elias in charge, to the point where he is the next to go. It will be a version of Henderson far from his peak, and you have to wonder, if Elias didn't embrace learning more about Mayo amid this season so short of expectations, if he won't be far behind Henderson this offseason.

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