Jordan Westburg injury cracks open the door for this Orioles' top prospect

The Baltimore Orioles had a busy offseason and entered spring training with confidence in their roster. The 40-man roster is full and there don't seem to be a lot of questions about who will be on the 26-man roster to start the season, but things can change in a hurry. The O’s were bitten hard by the injury bug last year and are hoping to avoid their first major injury of this season.

MASN’s Roch Kubatko has reported that All Star third baseman Jordan Westburg is dealing with lower back soreness and will miss some time. There’s limited information about the injury but it isn’t thought to be serious and there are no reports indicating that Westburg won’t be ready for Opening Day. For the moment it appears Westburg, who last appeared in a spring training game on Saturday, will be shut down for a few days before he begins swinging a bat again. 

The O’s have a busy spring schedule so Westburg will likely miss at least 3-4 games. There’s plenty of depth on the roster to fill the void but the person with the biggest opportunity is Coby Mayo. After crushing Triple-A pitching last season, Mayo got his first taste of big league pitching after being called up to Baltimore. In 17 games, Mayo went 4-41 with four walks, a HBP and 22 strikeouts. All four of his hits were singles and he did score four runs, but Mayo had zero RBI’s. 

Orioles' infielder Coby Mayo needs to take advantage of additional opportunities created by Jordan Westburg's absence

Mayo entered this season looking to prove those numbers were a fluke and he is in fact ready for the majors, but he’s again off to a rocky start. He’s just 1-11 in four games with no walks and two strikeouts. His one hit was a 113mph grounder up the middle that drove in two runs but his bat has again gone silent in two games since then.

Ramon Urías is projected to be Westburg’s backup and Emmanuel Rivera is also in camp. Both of those players will get their opportunities but are also both veterans and known commodities. The heavy hitting Mayo is the biggest wild card. Spring training is the time where the O’s can give him the longest look with the lowest downside. At 23 years of age, this will not be Mayo’s last chance but it could be his best chance to show his skill set to Brandon Hyde this season.