O’s No. 3 prospect Mayo to join club in Cleveland (source)
Jake Rill
CLEVELAND — For the second time in three days, the Orioles are preparing to call up one of baseball’s top prospects.
Coby Mayo — Baltimore’s No. 3 prospect and MLB Pipeline’s No. 15 overall — will be joining the O’s in Cleveland on Friday, multiple sources told MLB.com. The club has not confirmed the imminent promotion.
This will be the first big league callup for Mayo, who is set to join Jackson Holliday (MLB Pipeline’s No. 1 overall prospect) on Baltimore’s roster. Holliday was called up from Triple-A Norfolk for the second time on Wednesday.
It’s not too surprising that the Orioles are planning to bring up Mayo, as they lost All-Star infielder Jordan Westburg to a right hand fracture on Wednesday. The 22-year-old Mayo is also a right-handed-hitting primary third baseman.
Mayo was having a tremendous season at Triple-A, slashing .301/.375/586 with 22 doubles, two triples, 20 home runs and 61 RBIs over 77 games.
A 2020 fourth-round Draft pick, Mayo is also capable of playing first. But it seems unlikely he’ll get time there for the O’s, who already have both Ryan Mountcastle and Ryan O’Hearn.
Mayo is a big-bodied third baseman at 6-foot-5 and 230 pounds. His defense has been a work in progress in recent years, but members of Baltimore’s staff felt he showed improvement there in Spring Training earlier this year.
The biggest way Mayo will impact the Orioles is with his potent bat, which could give them a significant boost as they look to win a second straight American League East title and go on a postseason run.
“It’s unbelievable. Everyone is so astonished by his power, but he’s a good hitter,” Holliday said earlier in the week. “Just a good hitter. He’s hitting like .300 in Triple-A. It’s a big-time bat and he’s got a hell of an arm, and I know how hard he works.”
Mayo will be the fifth O’s prospect to debut this year, along with Holliday, infielder Connor Norby (who has since been traded to the Marlins), left-hander Cade Povich (O’s No. 7 prospect) and right-hander Chayce McDermott ( No. 6).
General manager Mike Elias had been asked multiple times throughout the summer about when Mayo could get called up, and he continued to say that Baltimore’s front office was having conversations about the infielder, which is always a good sign.
On Wednesday, a question was posed to Elias about whether he considered bringing up Mayo instead of Holliday as the Trade Deadline dust settled.
“Coby Mayo is in the mix, and that’s another pathway we could have gone down,” Elias said. “I think for us here, it was mainly the left-handedness and the readiness that Jackson has at second base. And there’s still avenues for Coby Mayo here in the near future.”
The future is now.
