Coby Mayo 2024

[Just Regular]

Adrian Beltre HoF weekend, I heard an anecdote during the BOS-LAD series about Rafael Devers and a specific encouragement given to him was to look at all the errors Beltre made early in his career.

Mayo is about 22.6 today, and Devers is about 27.8 today, and the anecdote ran how Devers has gradually become "less bad" at errors because his bat has been special enough to keep building his life mastery of baseball 3B defense year in year out the past half decade.

The trickier short term question for the Orioles is can you trust him there at all in October 2024?     I think the image Elias used describing that with Holliday as a new 2B defender went like, can you trust them in a night game at Yankee Stadium?

Devers goes past 4000 PA in a couple more games, it seems like he should be more than 5.2  years older than Mayo.

[clapdiddy]

12 hours ago, Three Run Homer said:

It could work--you can make O'Hearn and Mountcastle a pure platoon at first base--but who goes to make room for Mayo?  If it's Urias or Mateo, you have no utility infielder anymore.  

Yes you do.  You will have Urias OR Mateo.

[Tony-OH]

17 hours ago, Frobby said:

Mayo has made two errors this weekend, one at 3B, one at 1B.  Today, with the bases loaded, he made a bad throw from 1B and all three runners scored.   Oops.  On Friday at 3B, Mayo flubbed a grounder and a runner scored from 3B.   That’s 14 errors on the year, 4 at 1B in only 13 starts there, 10 at 3B in 53 starts.  

Definitely a tough defensive weekend. Certainly didn't help himself when he's going to need to play 3B or 1B to break into the lineup this year. 

[Tony-OH]

16 hours ago, Frobby said:

How useful is a 70 arm that’s quite inaccurate?

At times it's inaccurate for sure. I'm not going to lie, at some point it does become a "concern" because it's the only thing holding him back. Do I think his bat can make up for the throwing issues, I do, but I can understand the Orioles reluctance to bring him up if he can't calm that down. 

If the Orioles think the throwing problems will never allow him to play 3B or 1B then they have to consider moving him to RF because DH is not an option with the way they use Adley. This also could be a reason the Orioles decide to allow him to headline a trade. 

Now I hope they don't do that because an impact middle of the order hitter, but the Orioles value defense highly.

[Tony-OH]

2 hours ago, Just Regular said:

Adrian Beltre HoF weekend, I heard an anecdote during the BOS-LAD series about Rafael Devers and a specific encouragement given to him was to look at all the errors Beltre made early in his career.

Mayo is about 22.6 today, and Devers is about 27.8 today, and the anecdote ran how Devers has gradually become "less bad" at errors because his bat has been special enough to keep building his life mastery of baseball 3B defense year in year out the past half decade.

The trickier short term question for the Orioles is can you trust him there at all in October 2024?     I think the image Elias used describing that with Holliday as a new 2B defender went like, can you trust them in a night game at Yankee Stadium?

Devers goes past 4000 PA in a couple more games, it seems like he should be more than 5.2  years older than Mayo.

Devers had a .937 fielding percentage in the minors at 3B, Mayo has a .929 overall, but .940 in AAA so he has improved. 

Mayo has been improving but there will be errors. What some may not taking into considering is how many plays Mayo makes because of his arm that others may not? He comes in well and he's got a decent first step with a big arm span. 

I believe his offense will outweigh his defense. Part of the equation though is how much defense will they lose at 2B with Westburg and when do you pull the trigger on Holliday again? Unless Mountcastle is moved (his defense has been very good at 1B) Mayo remains in a tough situation unless they are going to keep Holliday in AAA until September or August 31st to make him playoff eleigible.

[interloper]

13 hours ago, Jagwar said:

Yordan Alvarez was DH for 65 of 99 games for the Astros this year. 

Call Mayo up and make him a full time DH. 

I think DH is pretty much the only way Mayo gets onto the 26-man at this rate. 

The more I think about it, the more I wonder if he's the one big-3 guy to get traded. I can't see Hyde and Elias wanting to weaken 2 IF spots at the same time. At least with Holliday, you can leave Westburg at 3B and have a logical Holliday/Mateo platoon. 

[Frobby]

1 hour ago, Tony-OH said:

Mayo has been improving but there will be errors. What some may not taking into considering is how many plays Mayo makes because of his arm that others may not? He comes in well and he's got a decent first step with a big arm span. 

That’s where I need input from you and other observers who see him play a lot.  Range/reflexes are very important at 3B, and the ability to make throws others can’t make also is important.  You can’t really get that from the conventional stats available at the MiL level.  I’ve never really heard that Mayo is above average in range or reflexes.   Obviously I’ve heard his arm is strong, so I expect he occasionally does make a play other 3B wouldn’t due to his arm.   But I really don’t have any basis for an independent opinion on these issues, I just read what’s out there.   

[Greg Pappas]

2 hours ago, Tony-OH said:

At times it's inaccurate for sure. I'm not going to lie, at some point it does become a "concern" because it's the only thing holding him back. Do I think his bat can make up for the throwing issues, I do, but I can understand the Orioles reluctance to bring him up if he can't calm that down. 

If the Orioles think the throwing problems will never allow him to play 3B or 1B then they have to consider moving him to RF because DH is not an option with the way they use Adley. This also could be a reason the Orioles decide to allow him to headline a trade. 

Now I hope they don't do that because an impact middle of the order hitter, but the Orioles value defense highly.

Having Mayo learn RF is, and has been, an excellent idea.  This situation with Mayo reminds me of Mountcastle's defensive concerns at 3B.  It was readily apparent he wasn't a 3B, yet the O's continued to try to force the issue.  Eventually they moved him to 1B and he's become a good defender at 1B.  That was a different regime, but, again, reminiscent of Mayo's problems at 3B/1B. 

With enough reps, Mayo seems athletic enough, with a cannon to boot, to handle RF.  Give him reps in RF, but don't delay.  Maybe I'm wrong about this, but it makes sense to me.

Edited July 22 by Greg Pappas

[Frobby]

21 minutes ago, Greg Pappas said:

Having Mayo learn RF is, and has been, an excellent idea.  This situation with Mayo reminds me of Mountcastle's defensive concerns at 3B.  It was readily apparent he wasn't a 3B, yet the O's continued to try to force the issue.  Eventually they moved him to 1B and he's become a good defender at 1B.  That was a different regime, but, again, reminiscent of Mayo's problems at 3B/1B. 

With enough reps, Mayo seems athletic enough, with a cannon to boot, to handle RF.  Give him reps in RF, but don't delay.  Maybe I'm wrong about this, but it makes sense to me.

The fact that they haven’t done this after all this time tells me that either (1) the O’s feel confident that Mayo will do okay at 3B eventually, or (2) the O’s have some reason to think Mayo is not suited for the OF.  Sometimes it’s just that simple. 

[Greg Pappas]

3 minutes ago, Frobby said:

The fact that they haven’t done this after all this time tells me that either (1) the O’s feel confident that Mayo will do okay at 3B eventually, or (2) the O’s have some reason to think Mayo is not suited for the OF.  Sometimes it’s just that simple. 

That's true.  It may be that simple. 

[Jagwar]

Have to think that if Mark Trumbo could be placed in RF, Mayo should be able to learn the position and do at least the same defensively and mash at the plate.  

 

(preemptive disclosure... yes, I know Trumbo was not a good fielder) 

[RZNJ]

7 hours ago, Tony-OH said:

At times it's inaccurate for sure. I'm not going to lie, at some point it does become a "concern" because it's the only thing holding him back. Do I think his bat can make up for the throwing issues, I do, but I can understand the Orioles reluctance to bring him up if he can't calm that down. 

If the Orioles think the throwing problems will never allow him to play 3B or 1B then they have to consider moving him to RF because DH is not an option with the way they use Adley. This also could be a reason the Orioles decide to allow him to headline a trade. 

Now I hope they don't do that because an impact middle of the order hitter, but the Orioles value defense highly.

This is where @Can_of_corn usually brings up O’Hearn and RF.  It never fails.  He must be really, really busy.

[Can_of_corn]

1 minute ago, RZNJ said:

This is where @Can_of_corn usually brings up O’Hearn and RF.  It never fails.  He must be really, really busy.

Yea, I was posting elsewhere.

Also Flaherty at second last year.

[RZNJ]

Just now, Can_of_corn said:

Yea, I was posting elsewhere.

Also Flaherty at second last year.

Flaherty last year?  Dude, you’re in a time warp!

[Rbiggs2525]

Mountcastle arm at first base is sill a problem. He is very reluctant to start a DP from first or if he does we have no chance of a return throw due to his weak initial throw. I’m not going to knock Mayo for errant throw while just learning position.