What to expect from Coby Mayo in the big leagues (2024)

Yep, you read that right, the Orioles are summoning another top prospect from their ample farm system to help boost the big league club.

Coby Mayo, the latest member of a booming Triple-A Norfolk offense to be Camden Yards-bound, could be the most powerful one yet. Just six hitters on clubs’ Top 30 Prospects list across baseball have a 65-grade or higher power tool; Mayo is one of them.

At 6-foot-5, 230 pounds, Mayo, MLB Pipeline's No. 15 overall prospect, cuts an imposing figure in the right-handed batters box. If you see similarities to Braves All-Star Austin Riley in his compact, powerful swing, you’re not alone -- so did many evaluators when Mayo was mashing at Stoneman Douglas HS in Florida before the Orioles nabbed him in the fourth round of the 2020 Draft. (The reason Baltimore had the financial resources to sign Mayo away from his University of Florida commitment? The discount that Heston Kjerstad took as the No. 2 overall pick.)

“Ever since I was a little kid, I wanted to be a Major League Baseball player,” Mayo said after signing with the Orioles in 2020.

Mayo’s acclimation to pro ball was swift. He posted a slugging percentage north of .530 at every stop on Baltimore’s organizational ladder, damaging baseballs and ERAs from the club’s complex in Florida to Delmarva to Aberdeen to Bowie to Norfolk. He won the Double-A Eastern League MVP Award last season despite playing in just 78 games for the Baysox after slashing .307/.424/.603, with 49 of his 88 hits going for extra bases.

If there’s an elephant in the room when it comes to Mayo’s promotion, it’s that big ol’ green one that is now 384 to 400 feet away from home plate at Oriole Park at Camden Yards -- “Walltimore.” While 47.5 percent of the pitches that Mayo has put into play this year are to his pull side, 22.8 percent of the balls that he hits in the air go over the fence, the highest rate among all Orioles Minor Leaguers.

Norfolk’s Harbor Park boasts some favorable hitting environs, but there’s little doubt that when Mayo connects, the ball is traveling a considerable way. Of his 20 Triple-A roundtrippers this season, 11 have gone at least 408 feet, including three north of 435. Only seven Orioles homers this year have traveled farther than Mayo’s max distance of 438, none by more than five feet.

Baltimore’s lineup has produced eight balls put in play this season at 111 mph or better. Mayo, by himself, has recorded six such exit velocities at Norfolk, including a 114.9 mph mark that ranks him tops in the organization.

Promotions of Top 100 overall prospects have become a common occurrence for Orioles fans in the past few seasons. But even with the supremely gifted come bumps in the road. Colton Cowser hit just .115 with the big league club last year before blossoming into an American League Rookie of the Year Award frontrunner in 2024. Jackson Holliday (MLB’s No. 1 prospect) had his 2-for-34 skid in his first taste of The Show before clubbing a grand slam in his first game back Wednesday. Heston Kjerstad owns a 123 OPS+ across 41 Major League games but has yet to fully blossom.

But with Mayo, the Orioles are summoning a scorching-hot bat. The 22-year-old has torpedoed opposing pitching to an OPS north of 1.000 in two separate months this year and is slashing .370/.414/.630 over the past week. On Thursday, he notched his ninth game of the season with at least three hits, going 4-for-6 in Norfolk’s latest offensive eruption.

While much of the clamor around Mayo has been how his bat will play at the next level, it’s not his highest-rated tool from a prospect evaluation perspective -- that belongs to his throwing arm. Equipped with a 70-grade howitzer that is ideally suited for the hot corner, the club's third-ranked prospect figures to have ample opportunities to show it off in the wake of All-Star Jordan Westburg’s absence due to a fractured right hand. Mayo has split his time between third and first base for much of July, giving the club flexibility as it pertains to Ryan Mountcastle and the designated hitter spot as well.

The loss of Westburg is undoubtedly a blow, but one that is cushioned by the immense prospect capital that the Orioles have compiled. While they tapped into that reserve to acquire left-handed pitcher Trevor Rogers from the Marlins just prior to the Trade Deadline (sending Connor Norby and Kyle Stowers to Miami), they stood pat on their top talents.

On July 13, Orioles general manager Mike Elias was asked at a press conference about the prospect of a callup for Mayo considering the club’s standing in the American League pennant chase and the fact that the corner infielder had yet to so much as see a pitch in the big leagues.

“He’s in an exceptionally good spot,” Elias said. “We talk about him all the time. He’s very close. He’s going to help us this year. It’s just about the right moment and the right opportunity and the right runway for something like that to happen, and there’s moving parts.

“I’m sure it’s coming very soon.”

That time is now.