Coby Mayo’s scorching spring seems to show one major adjustment that could unlock him

Coby Mayo has been the Baltimore Orioles' best hitter this spring. Out of all the players who have gotten at least 15 ABs this spring, Mayo leads the team in hits, RBI, and OPS, and despite being second on the team in total ABs, he's only struck out once. So far in Mayo's career, strikeouts and whiffs have been a big problem; if he has found a way to tap into his ability at the plate without striking out so much, he could become one of the most important offensive players in the lineup.

Because of Mayo's slow start to his big league career, it's easy to forget how good a hitter he was as a prospect. Gunnar Henderson, Adley Rutschman, and Jackson Holliday were all regarded much higher than Mayo as prospects, but that was in part because of their ability to play premium defensive positions, while Mayo's defense was (rightfully) held against him by evaluators. At the plate, however, Mayo was a better hitter than any of the Orioles' other top prospects.

That does not mean that he's automatically destined to be a better major league hitter than the Orioles ' now-established former prospects, but it's a good reminder of what he's capable of.

Coby Mayo is swinging the bat more, and it's working

Mayo's early career struggles are not unique to him. All the Orioles' top prospects over the last few years have really struggled over their first 200 or so PAs. There are many contributing factors; the jump from the minors to the majors has never been more difficult than it is now. A major contributing factor that is Orioles-specific, though, is that the Orioles' prospects are taught all through the minors to have good plate discipline, take a lot of pitches, and work deep into counts.

This is good for their overall development and their long-term futures, but when these Orioles prospects try to bring their minor league approach to the majors, they quickly find themselves behind in the count. If your plate approach involves intentionally getting into a lot of two-strike counts, you're going to struggle in the big leagues.

All the Orioles' top prospects who have found success in the majors have had to learn to be more aggressive, and it now appears that Mayo has learned that same lesson. The big difference between Mayo this spring and Mayo the last couple of seasons is that Mayo is swinging the bat way more.

Every stat related to swinging shows a major uptick for Mayo, and the contact stats are following right behind them.

It would be a shocking development if Mayo was suddenly a near Steven Kwan level contact hitter, so these contact numbers are likely to come down a bit in the regular season, but a big reason that Mayo is seeing so much more success making contact this spring training vs his previous regular season efforts is because he is attacking pitches early in the count rather than being passive taking 40% of the ball in the zone for strikes.

This new approach may result in some ugly chase swings, and it's possible his strikeout rate might not even change that much, but he'll make a lot more contact over the course of the regular season. If Mayo has truly turned a corner, that means that the Orioles have another middle-of-the-order level bat in the lineup, which would be a big problem for opposing pitchers looking for outs.