Mayo making noise as young Orioles slugger

SARASOTA, Fla. – The number surprised Coby Mayo, and he’s grown accustomed to his power being translated beyond the loud sounds.

Mayo lined a double off the left-center field fence Tuesday in Fort Myers with an exit velocity of 111.5 mph, per Statcast data. Hit the padding on the fly. Or more accurately, on a line.

There are frozen ropes in baseball and there are ropes from Mayo with flickering flames.

“Just trying to hit something hard,” he said yesterday morning.

We can pause here to consider how Mayo, with his ridiculous raw power, doesn’t really need to try. It’s going to happen naturally. He could do it in the middle of a nap. OK, to continue …

“Trying to stay simple,” he said. “I saw a pitch up in the zone. I really didn’t even know that (Austin Schulfer) had a changeup. Just saw it up and took a good swing on it."

We can pause here to consider how Mayo drove an 89.7 mph changeup with that amount of velo, the highest reading in the game against the Twins. Schulfer didn’t groove a fastball. OK, to continue again …

“Obviously, I knew I hit it hard,” Mayo said, “but 111.5 is a cool number to see.”

MLB Pipeline ranks Mayo, who’s listed at 6-feet-5 and 230 pounds, as the No. 10 prospect in the system and scouts grades his power at 60. The Orioles went way over slot to sign him for $1.75 million in the fourth round in 2020 out of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.

The ball jumps off his bat and his batting practice sessions are must-watch. Or must-listen. Eyes can be closed and there’s no mistaking who’s in the cage.

“I’ve always been told you don’t need to swing that hard, you have so much power, you’re going to create your own,” said Mayo, who had 20 doubles and 19 home runs last summer in 102 games between High-A Aberdeen and Double-A Bowie. “I think this spring, maybe trying to do a little bit too much. Been working on some things with some off-speed pitches, and it was cool to see it work out for me.”

Can’t fall in the trap of jumping out of his spikes and becoming vulnerable to the secondary offerings.

Mayo, 21, lined an RBI single into center field Monday against the Phillies, again coming off the bench. Again, making you project just how good he can be down the road.

“The more you swing at their off-speed stuff, the pitches that aren’t strikes, they’re going to keep throwing it to you until you can prove you hit it,” he said. “The last two days I’ve hit a slider and a changeup and feeling good. Just trying to keep it simple, not trying to do too much, and trying to just make contact with the ball. Because I know if I do that, my swing plays to some balls in the air.”

To say the least.

“I think he turns a lot of heads, especially in BP, and then when you see that, especially off good velocity coming at him, those are things you love about him,” said Bowie manager Kyle Moore.

“The biggest thing we’re going to do with Coby is to get him to control the strike zone a little bit. I think when we can start getting him to swing at pitches where he’s most likely to do damage and hit the ball 111 off the bat, when we can get him consistently swinging at those pitches, I think we might have a monster, I think we might have a serious big league, middle-of-the-lineup power hitter. And so the challenge is going to be, he’s a young hitter, Double-A pitching, first level where you see really good stuff like he’s seeing out there in big league spring training, what is he swinging at?

“Is he swinging at the right stuff? Is he making good swing decisions? Is he swinging at balls he can really do damage on? And if we can get him to do that, that light-tower power then gets put into play.”

Mayo committed a throwing error at third base Tuesday, one inning before his screaming liner that had everyone talking. Manager Brandon Hyde called it a 3-iron.

Wood you believe it?

OK, sorry.

It also seemed like an atonement of sorts.

“The first pitch I came in, a slow roller, just went to go get it and I think trying to throw it a little bit too hard, didn’t know if he was going to be safe or not. Just threw it a little bit too hard and it got past him,” Mayo said.

“I think the double helps out, but you want to make most of all your opportunities, even in the field,” he said. “I think everyone knows I can hit. I have to prove more on defense to people, so getting those plays and making those plays is nice, but having that double is nice to have after that.”

Mayo is a third baseman with first base vibes, especially in an organization with so many top infield prospects and with Gunnar Henderson slated to be the starter at the hot corner this season – at least at the beginning.

The Orioles don’t have a first baseman in the system who appears in prospect rankings. Ryan Mountcastle is only 26 and could be around for a while. Mayo and his 70-grade arm might have to move eventually, but the plan is to keep developing him at third and see what happens.

“I think I play third base well, but if there comes a point in time where they’re like, ‘Hey, we want to move you up certain levels and we don’t have an opening at third and you’re going to have to play first or the outfield,’ I’m open to it,” he said. “I’ve told them plenty of times, ‘Hey, I’m going to do whatever you guys want me to do. Whatever helps me move up faster, I’m going to do that.’

“Ordered up the first base glove and an outfield glove because you never know what’s going to happen, so I’m open to everything.”

Mayo shagged some fly balls last year but that’s the extent of it.

“I’m sure during the season they’re going to have men doing some kind of outfield work,” he said, “but nothing yet.”