SARASOTA, Fla. — From the time Coby Mayo began playing in the Orioles’ minor league system, a couple things were clear about the third baseman from South Florida — he is one big dude, and he’s got the power to match.
Listed at 6-foot-5 and 230 pounds, Mayo is an imposing figure, complete with a wide stance that takes up much of the right-handed batter’s box. The 22-year-old is a career .279/.384/.523 hitter with 142 extra-base hits across three minor league seasons. He had the best season of his professional career in 2023, batting .290/.410/.564 with 77 extra-base hits between Double-A Bowie and Triple-A Norfolk.
The one thing that hasn’t always been clear is whether Mayo could stick at third base. When he played at High-A Aberdeen at the age of 20 in 2022 — his first time starting a season with an affiliate — he didn’t showcase the fluidity typically associated with a major league third baseman.
Mayo, however, has been widely credited this spring with improving on the defensive side, starting with his throwing. The big third baseman is proud of the strides he has made since his days in Aberdeen, saying he knew he had a lot of work to do at the time.
It’s safe to say the club has noticed the work Mayo has put in.
“For me, he’s been our, from a player from one year to the next, biggest improvement defensively, so I’ve been really impressed with his defense at third base — how far he’s come in a year,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said. “And now I’m playing him at first base a little bit, too. His bat is what’s going to get him to the big leagues, and the defense has really improved, so really excited about Coby.”
Mayo said the “drop-ball drill” has been an effective teaching tool for him.
“It’s soft toss to a coach and they drill it at you,” Mayo said. “We use different kind of balls. You can hit it really hard and they hit you, they’re not going to hurt. But it’s more for reaction and footwork and first steps and playing low. I’m a big guy, so you have to kind of play low. The few drills like that are good for third base.”
One thing that has never been in question is the power, often making Aberdeen’s Ripken Stadium — known as a pitcher’s park — look small with loud home runs to left field, Mayo’s pull side. His quick hands and strength allowed him to punish fastballs on the inner half.
In 2023, Mayo began to show a little more opposite-field power:
Mayo said that’s indicative of his natural maturation of a hitter but also the work he has put in.
“I knew I always had the power to do it. It’s kind of just feeling confident in yourself to drive a ball that way,” Mayo said. “And once you see it, you do it a few times. You build that confidence and that belief that you can do it. There’s a ton of work that we did in the cages and on-the-field BP to kind of open that up a little bit and obviously it was a success.”
Using that opposite-field power may be especially useful at Camden Yards. The impact of the park’s left-field renovation has been well-documented. Camden Yards was the 15th-friendliest park for right-handed hitters in 2022 and 29th-friendliest in 2023, according to Statcast (not including one-off parks like the Field of Dreams).
This comes after Camden Yards had been a notoriously forgiving park for righties from 1992 to 2021, what with a 364-foot mark in left-center field and a 7-foot wall. But if there’s anybody who can clear the new wall — 398 feet in left center, 13-foot wall — it’s Mayo.
“I think when you get a ball, you get it and it’s going to go over,” Mayo said. “It doesn’t matter how far the fences are, but I think there obviously going to be times where you need a shorter wall. You don’t hit a ball that great, but it could get out at most parks. But you have to embrace all of that. You kind of have to play with it a little bit and figure out your distances with some balls you hit. I think it’ll be fun when I get there.”
Mayo will go back to Norfolk to begin the 2024 season because of the infield logjam in Baltimore, but he’s proud of how far he has come since being selected in the fourth round of the 2020 MLB Draft. He missed time in 2021 due to a knee injury and in 2022 due to a back injury, but he showed what he could do in a 140-game sample a year ago.
Now, the big leagues aren’t far off.
“I think you’ve just got to keep working,” Mayo said. “There’s still a long way for me to go — hitting, defense, just maturing as a person, as a player. I’ve come a long way, and I think you’re never satisfied with where you are as a player. Going one at-bat at a time, one day at a time and trying to build some good at-bats together and see where that gets me when we break camp.”
Photo Credit: Courtesy of the Baltimore Orioles