Coby Mayo has one thing to prove if he wants to be the Orioles starting third baseman

A year ago, the Baltimore Orioles decided that Coby Mayo was no longer a third baseman and had him move across the diamond to what was meant to be his permanent defensive home at first base. Typically, when a player slides down the defensive spectrum, they don't climb back up, but injuries have given Mayo a chance to prove himself capable at his old position.

So far, Mayo's glove has held up ok. He's never going to be Manny Machado with the glove, and at 6'5, he doesn't have the most natural build for the infield, so the Orioles have to be comfortable with the occasional flub. However, all things considered, he has looked alright fielding the ball. The issue that will make or break Mayo's case to be the Orioles’ third baseman is his ability to actually throw the ball to first base.

Coby Mayo's arm will decide the Orioles' third base job

It sounds very simple, and most third basemen make it look so easy that it gets taken for granted, but for Mayo, making that throw across the diamond is his biggest hurdle.

The issue being the throwing rather than the glove is troubling. A grounder that bounces off the third baseman's glove is just a single. A grounder to the third baseman that gets fielded cleanly and then thrown into right field is a double and will advance any runners on the base paths

It's early in spring training, and Mayo is working at third for the first time in a year, so he deserves some grace, but his current rate of throwing errors would be unacceptable for a starting third baseman even if he were one of the best hitters in the league.

After Mayo's most recent throwing error, Manager Craig Albernaz had this to say:

It's insightful commentary from Albernaz. If you watch Mayo at third this spring, he's made some nice throws on plays where he's had to charge balls and throw on the run. The problems do seem to come when he has a bit too much time to think.

So then the question is: how do the Orioles get Coby Mayo to stop thinking so much? Albernaz has tried to keep things light by having Mayo unexpectedly play shortstop. During an interview with Ryan Ripken, Mayo said that after that brief experience, Albernaz told him that his warm-up throws looked very natural at short. At this point, their only option is to instill as much confidence in him so that he doesn't feel like his career rests on the result of every put out and hope that Mayo doesn't give back all his offensive value on defense.

If Mayo can keep wild throws to a minimum, his bat could be very valuable at third base. If he can't, then he'll have to split time at DH with Basallo and Mountcastle, which would be an unfortunate situation for everyone involved.