Mayo optioned to Triple-A after tough 1st stint in the Majors

BALTIMORE -- Coby Mayo recorded his first MLB hit on Wednesday night. However, it wasn’t enough to keep the 22-year-old in the big leagues after a tough start to his Orioles career.

On Thursday, Baltimore optioned Mayo (the club’s No. 2 prospect and MLB Pipeline’s No. 10 overall) to Triple-A Norfolk. The O’s recalled Livan Soto, who will take over Mayo’s spot in their infield mix and serve as a depth option moving forward.

During his first seven-game stint in the Majors, Mayo went 1-for-17 (.059) with three walks, two runs scored and 10 strikeouts. He debuted on Aug. 2 in Cleveland, then went hitless in 18 consecutive plate appearances before singling to open the fifth inning of Wednesday’s 4-1 win over Washington.

“This is part of being a young player, and now, he knows what it’s like up here,” manager Brandon Hyde said.

Mayo was attacked with a lot of offspeed breaking pitches, which led to his high strikeout rate.

“That slider down and away or the changeups down and away, they’re going to keep throwing them,” Mayo said on Wednesday night. “They’re going to keep doing it until you prove that you can do it otherwise. It’s the best level in the world. There’s no level higher than this, and there’s a reason why they’re here.”

This isn’t the first time a top O’s prospect couldn’t immediately stick in the Majors.

In April, Jackson Holliday (the No. 1 overall prospect in baseball) went 2-for-34 with 18 strikeouts during his initial 10-game MLB stint. Now, the 20-year-old is back in Baltimore and has gone 12-for-47 (.255) with five home runs and a .909 OPS in 13 games since returning on July 31.

Last year, outfielder Colton Cowser and right-hander Grayson Rodriguez both struggled during their first tastes of the big leagues, which resulted in returns to Triple-A. Each has had a lot of success for the Orioles since then.

“Any time that we’ve had a few of our young prospects come up and then go back down, I think it’s always actually a positive experience that he had up here,” Hyde said. “When you go back down, now you understand what the speed of the game is up here, the importance of certain things, just what Major League pitching looks like.

“So I think Coby’s going to be better for it, just like Cowser was, just like Grayson was, Jackson earlier this year.”

Cowser’s first big league stint was a bit longer than those of Holliday and Mayo. A former top prospect, the 24-year-old outfielder went 7-for-61 (.115) with a .433 OPS over 26 games from July 5 to Aug. 11, 2023. Now, he’s an American League Rookie of the Year front-runner this season.

It isn’t easy to make the jump from Triple-A to MLB, and Cowser can tell Mayo that.

“No matter how much people say it’s the same game, it’s not, between Triple-A and here. I think it gets to a point where it does start to feel the same, and that can take a little bit of time,” Cowser said. “I was told this last year: It’s never a bad thing to come up to the big leagues and experience a little bit of failure. What’d he have, like, 16 at-bats, 17, something like that? That’s nothing. I have all the faith in the world in him.”

Mayo will go back to Norfolk, where he slashed .301/.375/.586 with 22 doubles, two triples, 20 home runs and 61 RBIs in 77 games earlier this year. He’ll also continue to work on his defense at third base, where he made only one error during his brief stint with Baltimore.

It would be surprising if Mayo doesn’t return to the big leagues this season. All-Star infielder Jordan Westburg (fractured right hand) won’t be back until late September at the earliest, and Soto is unlikely to assume a starting role. For now, Ramón Urías should play a lot at third.

The future is still bright for Mayo, whose 65-grade power is the best in the Orioles' farm system. At some point -- whether that’s later this year or next -- he should become an integral part of Baltimore’s lineup.

“He’s going to hit a lot of home runs in this league,” Hyde said.