Coby Mayo's stat line doesn't tell the full story, but he needs to change one thing

Coby Mayo quickly became the most interesting character in the Baltimore Orioles camp this spring training after an injury to Jordan Westburg thrust him into a starting role at third base. Mayo swung a hot bat through spring training but struggled adjusting back to the hot corner, making the main question around him: would his bat be enough to keep his poor glove in the lineup? Once the season started, however, it's been the opposite: Mayo playing like a plus third baseman in the field and struggling at the plate.

Early-season slash lines are finicky; all it takes is a single good game, and you can go from the doghouse to the penthouse in an instant. Gunnar Henderson raised his OPS by almost .300 points  on Friday afternoon against the Pirates.

Still, with Mayo having struggled at the major league level so much in his brief stint in 2024 and across various spurts of playing time in 2025, it's hard not to be a little spooked by his slow start. So far, he is slashing .118/.250/.176, and perhaps more concerning, he's struck out in 35% of his at-bats.

There is reason to be optimistic that Coby Mayo's early-season slump will be short-lived

Mayo has had very poor luck with his batted balls in play; he's hit multiple balls over 100 mph and even one ball at 110 mph that has found its way into the gloves of his opponents' outfielders. As the season goes on, those hard-hit balls will find the grass more often than not.

It's also worth noting that the Orioles have faced almost exclusively right-handed pitching. If Mayo wants to be an everyday player, he'll have to improve against righties. Only facing righties doesn't excuse the lack of production, but in Mayo's career, he's been much more effective against lefties. The Orioles will see more lefties over the course of the season, especially once they start facing their divisional opponents, whose rotations are full of lefties that the Orioles have struggled against over the last couple of years.

Once Mayo gets a little luckier and gets some more favorable pitching matchups, his numbers will steadily rise.

One thing that Mayo needs to work on is being more aggressive at the plate. In spring training, he saw a lot of success going after pitches in the zone early in the count. Since the season has begun, he has been much more passive. The result has been an excellent walk rate but also far too many strikeouts. Mayo's bat has a little too much swing and miss for him to be allowing pitchers to get to two strikes on him in every at-bat. Mayo needs to attack early and while the count is still neutral, even if the result is fewer walks.