Aug. 2: The O’s formally announced Mayo’s promotion. Infielder Livan Soto was optioned to Norfolk to open a spot on the active roster. Baltimore’s 40-man roster is now at capacity.
Aug. 1: Top prospect Coby Mayo is joining the Orioles, reports Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com (X link). The 22-year-old will be making his MLB debut. Mayo is not yet on the 40-man roster but the O’s have an opening, so they’ll only need to make a corresponding active roster transaction.
Baltimore took Mayo out of high school in the fourth round of the truncated 2020 draft. He signed for an above slot $1.75MM bonus and has ripped through minor league pitching at every level. The 6’5″, 230-pound corner infielder had pushed his way towards the top of a loaded O’s system by the start of the 2022 campaign. He had good but not elite numbers as a 20-year-old between High-A and Double-A that season.
A monster showing in the upper minors last year vaulted Mayo to the top of the overall league prospect rankings. He hit .307/.424/.603 with 17 homers in 78 games for Double-A Bowie. The O’s bumped him to Triple-A Norfolk late last season. Mayo responded with an excellent .267/.393/.512 slash across 62 contests.
Mayo entered the year as a top 30 minor league talent in the eyes of most evaluators. He has done all he can to reinforce that acclaim with another excellent year in Norfolk. Mayo has popped 20 homers over 335 plate appearances. He’s hitting .294/.370/.581 with a strong 10.1% walk rate. While his 24.5% strikeout percentage is a bit higher than average, it’s not a major concern for one of the best power-hitting prospects in the league.
The righty-hitting Mayo is tied for fourth in the International League in home runs. Among 83 hitters with 300+ plate appearances, he leads the league in slugging percentage. Mayo is 10th among that group in average and 25th in on-base percentage despite being one of the league’s youngest hitters.
Mayo ranks as the sport’s #12 prospect at Baseball America and FanGraphs. Keith Law of the Athletic ranked Mayo 18th on his recent update of the sport’s top 60 prospects. All three outlets have him as either the #2 or #3 player in the Baltimore system. He’s behind Jackson Holliday and alongside catcher Samuel Basallo at the top of an organization that is still loaded with high-end young talent.
BA and FanGraphs each credit Mayo with 70-grade power (plus-plus) on the 20-80 scouting scale. FanGraphs writes that Mayo could be susceptible to strikeouts early in his MLB career, but evaluators generally feel he shouldn’t have any problem getting to his impact power while drawing plenty of walks.
Mayo’s defense is more of a question. He has played exclusively on the corner infield in his minor league career. The vast majority of that experience has come at third base. Most scouting reports peg him as a fringe-average defender there despite excellent arm strength. FanGraphs’ report suggests Mayo may be best suited moving off the position to right field, but the O’s have not given him any outfield work in the minors.
He’ll break into the majors as a third baseman. Baltimore lost Jordan Westburg to a broken hand yesterday. The O’s have yet to provide a clear timeline on the All-Star’s return, yet he’s certainly in for a lengthy absence. Baltimore played Ramón Urías at the hot corner today. With Urías hitting a league average .244/.318/.381 in 195 plate appearances, they’ll turn to Mayo in the hope that the youngster provides above-average offense right out of the gate.
That’s no guarantee for any prospect, as Holliday’s struggles after his first big league call demonstrated early in the season. Yet there’s nothing more for Mayo to prove in the minors, as he now owns a .283/.380/.552 slash with 36 doubles and 32 homers in 602 career Triple-A plate appearances (the equivalent of one full season). Mayo would probably have gotten a look by now if he were in most other organizations. The O’s have such an impressive collection of infielders that they could afford to wait for him to comprehensively dominate minor league pitching.
Baltimore fans can dream on a future infield comprising Mayo, Holliday, Gunnar Henderson and Westburg from right to left. For now, Mayo will stick at the hot corner with Ryan Mountcastle and Ryan O’Hearn continuing to share first base and designated hitter. Urías should kick into a utility role which could bump recent trade pickup Livan Soto to Norfolk.
Barring a herculean start to his MLB career that earns him a top two finish in Rookie of the Year balloting, Mayo will not get a full service year this season. The O’s control him through at least the 2030 campaign; he won’t reach arbitration until the 2027-28 offseason. If Baltimore options him back to the minors at any point, that could delay his path to arbitration and free agency.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Good for him. Good luck Mayo
When he’s down in the count, Mayo has to play ketchup. But he’s an A1 prospect.
There’s a comment you can really relish
Cheez whiz!
Miso glad they called him up.
Hopefully he can cut the mustard. That’d be Gulden.
He’s going to be Ghouda. Probably make a lot of bread.
You can yoke around but it needs to be really whipped into shape.
Here’s hoping he hits a lot of Coby Jacks.
Mmmm…..mayo……aghhhhh….
If they spread him out evenly, it’ll be much better….
I’ve heard he’s a blue plate prospect
I always put Coby Mayo on my sandwiches
How many hours did you spend thinking that up?
Shouldn’t you be watching baseball to learn something instead of trying put down a solid joke? Sit this one out.
Everybody on this site thinks you are an idiot.
I’m going to mute you like everybody else has. You are too braindead to waste time on.
Another lie. Not everyone. Perhaps most, but not everyone.
Please mute me, softie.
Whys this guy getting hate for making a joke that didn’t land
Is this filihok’s alt and everyone knows it?
Tormented with the plot twist. That would explain why he’s a lovable fella.
I didn’t mind RayKing’s joke.
For the record, I personally do not think you’re an idiot. I hope you have a great weekend 🙂
Thank you newpony. Have a great weekend also
Wish I could, tween, but for some reason the mute isn’t active for your profile.
I played semi-pro until I was 30. You laugh at “Full House” styled attempts at humor. And you know exactly SHTT about baseball. fool.
Seminal comment.
@BNo6 – Ewwwwwwwwwwwww… but original.
Try red pepper relish on your sandwiches. Especially if you like jersey Mike’s. It gives the sandwich so much more flavor. But you can get your own from amaazon. It’s great with steak too. And just about anything else. Like with eggs.
They’re bringing him up too fast; they should hold the Mayo.
This would have worked out OK had Westburg not been injured. Mayo at 3rd, Westy at 2nd, and Urias to give some breathers. But asking Mayo and Holliday to rise to at least a .250 hitter AND play pennant baseball is a lot. Westburg’s injury was big.
Have faith in Holliday. The kid is special. There’s a reason why Elias held onto him over everything
Welcome Mayo! Congratulations!
Let it begin!!
Can he pitch? After Burnes and Rodriguez, it’s a lost cause.
What are you talking about? They just shored up their rotation with Trevor Rogers. Oh, wait…
Eflin is on line 1
I stand by my original statement.
Haha, Kremer can only get better from here as a #4/5 starter.
Is his middle name Jack?
We oughta get him on a team with Trey Cabbage. Any prospects named “sourdough” or “turkey” coming down the pipeline?
Perhaps he should be nicknamed The Sandwich.
And if he starts slamming homers, he could become the Slamwich.
Hi middle name is actually “Holtha”, it’s Eastern European I believe.
For Cowser, we Moo. For Mayo, would we yell “Duke’s”?
Cinco de Mayo almost works but Brooks is forever cinco. Is uniform # 55 taken?
All this was in the cards. Elias spoke about it a bit over a week ago.
As a big O’s booster the past 3 years this instability is something I’ve (maybe never) seen from a WS contender, and it’s concerning. The team is headed for the stretch run and the players aren’t sure of their roles from day to day.
Players have to play in order to get their timing down. The FO got cute and elected to rest Rutschman quite a bit so that he’s fresh for the playoffs. Good in theory, but in reality he’s not been playing well for a month now.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a rebuilding team that’s contending flipping a roster over like this 110 games into a season.
Come on now, you gotta be excited about Eloy.
Because you don’t see teams lose their 2, 4, and 5 starters along with the best closer in the game, their top set up man, and all star third baseman finish .500 much less be considered a WS contender. The orioles are the deepest team in baseball. But enough is enough.
They are likely taking advantage of playoff lock luxury and figure almost 2 months is enough time to settle on who will be the lineup mix for Oct money time. Rhythm in baseball can hurt the bye teams like last year. Might be ok if NYY grab division so long as they themselves get in a decent groove by late Sept.
I don’t disagree that constant roster swapping can be detrimental but they have time to get into a groove prior to playoff time. hard to give Gunnar the kind of breaks that Rutchman has been getting, now that both Mateo and Westie are down. And Norby taking his services to South Beach too.
Jackson at the 2B with Urias mostly playing 3B as they ease Mayo into the hot corner. I’m hoping that Mayo’s and isn’t as shaky as some have postulated. Time will tell.
I’d still rather have the problems the OC’s have than many other teams, even playoff probable teams. Let’s go O’s. 41 years is enough of a break from the WS title.
Injuries really forced their hand a lot. Dodgers are another example of a WS contender that made a lot of changes at the deadline. Rutschman hasn’t been the same since he was hit on the hand. I don’t think a wild card would be a terrible thing
As Rutschman goes, so go the Orioles.
O’s pulling out all the stops plus adding 2 new starting Ps @deadline.
They added a pitcher and a warm body.
Rather have him than Eloy Jimenez and let him mostly DH.
Even non-white people are excited about this Mayo.
Not if it’s Mayo on the same old white bread.
Thought for sure we wouldn’t see him for another few weeks. Glad to be wrong.
Reminds me a lot of Austin Riley.
If he improves his defense as much as Riley has since reaching the majors, then you have a gem.
Teams can play someone at new position late in season and in playoffs on way to winning World Series but it’s not the ideal way. Hope they can pull it off after few decades of suffering.
If Soto goes off the active roster, you don’t really want to see Urias sub for Henderson if he needs a rest or gets hurt before they can make another callup.. Might mean Jackson gets a few games in at short.
He’s not very fast so the 3rd base coach better hold the Mayo.
L
F
G
These players without hard consonants in their last names have an unfair advantage. If his last name was Pickle or Mustard he’d still be in the minors.
Even after calling up what seems like 10 top 100 guys they still have more to come. Incredible drafting and development over the last several years. Those basement seasons have really paid off well.
Mayo is an elite prospect among elite prospects too. Much closer to a Gunner or Adley than a Westburg or Cowser.
Westburg is better than Adley.
That is just plain wrong.
What is Adley a league average hitter? A solid defensive catcher? Westburg has more upside the Adley all day long. Westburg will be getting MVP serious consideration in the next couple years. Adley will be a dependable quality catcher.
125 OPS+ in 1,600+ career PAs so far.
From a very good defensive catcher, that is WAY more valuable than a comparably- productive 2B/3B.
As Rutschman goes so go the Orioles.
Baltimore’s winning ways showed up when Adley did. First time Orioles have had a prolonged struggle since he got the call in early 2022. Not coincidentaly, he’s in a prolonged slump.
His ops is .748. The league average is .750. Literally league average. I will take Westburg over the next five years any day. Granted you have both and don’t have to choose but Westburg will be hitting higher in the lineup and be more productive.
Let’s not get carried away. He wasn’t the only one that showed up. He is a solid piece but bigger pieces have come along.
Mets6968?? Stats are huge of course when measuring productivity. And to your point, Westy is a beast. The most clutch guy in the line up this year. Adley’s no slouch though.
Here is the difference between the 2. Adley has that rare intangible leadership quality that is hard to explain. Dude was born with it. Not a coincidence that the Orioles started winning when he showed up.
Cowser and Westbug both have higher WARs than Adley.
I think you all are misinterpreting my argument. I’m not saying Adley is bad. I’m saying Westburg is going to be really good.
115 OPS+, so much better than league average, and it’s only that low right now because of the dreadful month long slump he’s currently dealing with.
He’s a well above average bat overall, and as a catcher, that is much more valuable than an above average offensive 2B/3B. Objectively.
Well WAR wise he’s ranked behind all of the players we are talking about and sabermetrics values him less than all of them even as a catcher.
1 Gunnar Henderson BAL 492 6.0 6.0
2 Corbin Burnes BAL 138.2 0.0 2.9 2.9
3 Colton Cowser BAL 350 2.9 2.9
4 Jordan Westburg BAL 420 2.8 2.8
5 Anthony Santander BAL 446 2.7 2.7
6 Adley Rutschman BAL 450 2.4 2.4
BBREF has him 2nd on the team behind Gunnar.
This is all silly anyway, we have more than 1 partial season’s worth of data on Adley so basing your entire assessment of him on that 1 partial season makes no sense.
league average ops is .712. unless you’re talking about the american league average ops which is .711.
Historically it has been around.750 but you are correct and I was wrong but that doesn’t change the comparisons to the Orioles players we are comparing that Orioles fans are trashing. I wasn’t saying Adley is bad just not a super star. Just a really good player.
Better than all of them by far
Adley has the 6th highest WAR on the Orioles this year. By far on who?
Adley is #1 in fWAR amongst Catchers and it’s not particularly close.
What are you talking about? That’s not even accurate at all? Cal Raleigh is a full 1.0 ahead of him. Contreras is almost a whole 1 ahead of him. Smith and him are neck and neck . The other Contreras would be ahead without injury. Salvador Perez is right behind him.
So you are telling us you don’t know what fWAR is. Way to show your ass.
With Floch on this question, the current #’s are what they are on Adley and all facts were given, but you’re really catching Adley at a low point. He’ll recover. My guess is .275 to .280 with 25 HR and 20 2B’s, probably will get the OPS+ back over 125 or so.
Back before the slump he was flirting with .300.
“I know you can get the job, but can you do the job?”
@Macbeth
getting low enough to get a good drafting position is easier than actually making a good pick (providing you have the stomach for it). Matt Hobgood says hi.
The scouting and strategy along with a completely reworked dev program have made a massive difference. Thank goodness they finally stopped the stupid reticence to draft Latin American players. that was brutal.
Let’s hope the recent trades and use of farm capital works out. I know that Burnes is going to cost a billion dollars but wow is it refreshing to see the number of quality starts he has strung together. brings his lunch pail and just goes to work with no drama, even if he doesn’t have his best stuff. maybe Rubenstein and the rest of them will shock us and open the wallet for an anchoring #1.
looks like (huge left handed man) 70+ power, cannon of an arm. better joey gallo maybe? that’d be fun
He bats righty.
Austin Riley is a pretty good comp for his upside.
@knolln
Please don’t compare Mayo to Gallo. You’re going to jinx him.
So on top of all of our other deadline additions, like Eflin and Dominguez, we also added the consensus #1 and #10-15ish overall prospects to the team, both of whom have obliterated AAA and have nothing else to prove there from an offensive standpoint.
It’s a GREAT time to be an Orioles fan.
Orioles fans can go on Holiday with a smorgasbord of Hellmann’s Mayo in the offseason with a potential championship in the bag!
smor·gas·bord
/ˈsmôrɡəsˌbôrd/
noun
a buffet offering a variety of hot and cold meats, salads, hors d’oeuvres, etc.
What exactly is a “smorgasbord of mayonnaise?”
You’re a good sport, Warden 🙂
A smorgasbord of mayonnaise is hopefully a really good sandwich lol
Coby relishes the chance to prove that he can cut the mustard at the MLB level and the cheese too.
As long as we can score 6+ runs any time someone not named Burnes is pitching…we might be alright. So let’s pray Mayo and Holliday figure it out quick.
He’s going to put on a clinic.
Tigers fans sad on missing out on Mayo as part of a Skubal trade should realize the Tigers could have drafted him in 2020. Picking just ahead of the Orioles, Detroit chose instead: Torkelson (1) Dingler (2) Daniel Cabrera (Comp B) (3) Trei Cruz (3) and then, right before Mayo was picked by the O’s in the fourth round, the legendary Gage Workman.
Orioles got Westburg, Kjerstad, and Mayo in that draft lol.
Crochett was in that draft..and some might trade a couple of the players you mention for him yet the Os passed at the time..hindsight is 20/20
I would not trade any of those players for Crochet currently, much less more than one.
The O’s should run a clinic on drafting talent as they have had phenomenal success…of course they and their fans endured many years of failure and derision but are absolutely on a trajectory upwards and one of the top teams in MLB again this year and will probably be for years to come……congrats….wish my Yankees were as successful with their draft and talent evals…..
Helps for one pick. From round two on, you gotta be good, which the orioles have been.
@84
Cue the UCL for Skubal since he’s in such uncharted waters for IPs.
Hes already had one tommy john surgery ..his innings progression looks on track a guy is always going to be in uncharted waters once. Then they will be charted..relax the tigers wont risk him
@Pool and @stymeed,
I stand corrected. Good points, my mistake… I was actually thinking about the very uncharted IPs for Crochet, not Skubal. I had them both crossed in my mind.
He’s the one that I’m concerned about the massive jump in innings and then adding that he wants to continue to start this year… given the number of injuries this year esp, that worries me.
All prospects throw more innings as they start their major league career, as it has a longer season. Just as they have done with Skubal, Manning, and Mize, he will get some short starts and extra rest in the 2nd half. Being in a playoff hunt, Baltimore will have a much harder time resting their players.
We need the late Lou Gossett jr. to say…………….mayonnaise ! What a hoot.
O’s let Livan stick his head in the clubhouse doorway to simultaneously wave hello and goodbye to everyone while his awaiting cab to the airport is parked in the loading zone out back…
When Coby reports to the Orioles, he will update the 25 man roster on their baseball skills as being emphasized at the Oriole’s AAA level.
In fact, he will be conducting a………………………………………………………………………………
MAYO CLINIC !!
A really bad bunch of comodians…best comedy done sitting on a commode
Hopefully Coby is a Hellmann’s Mayo fanatic. There’s an endorsement that sells itself.
Has some holes in his swing that will be easily be exploited in the majors. I’d pump the jets on expectations not only for this year, but for his remaining career.
Slider with cheese mlb trade rumors chief idiot troll…knows nothing about baseball…yet says mayo has holes in his swing…only hole is the one in your head.
Kids going to be a good one
A real star will be born in Cleveland tonight. To be remembered.
With Mayo and Holliday called up, we’re finally basically starting to see the team we’ve all been envisioning being formed. They’re all almost ready to fully go. Give it some time. Once it starts, this might be called something like the Big Orange Machine