Coby Mayo

Mayo came to the plate with two men on base in a tie game in the 11th inning. He crushed a pitch to center that outfielder AJ Ewing almost caught, but instead Ewing fell after running into the wall and Mayo rounded the bases. It was his 24th home run this season. He’s hitting .226 with a .759 OPS and 63 RBI.

Mayo’s first homer off Joey Cantillo was his 16th off a lefty. The second off Slade Cecconi was his fifth versus a righty and first since July 27. He’s sat three of the last six times the Orioles have faced righties, but today’s performance could help with that. Luis Robert Jr.'s absence is also probably a good thing for his fantasy value.

Mayo got the Orioles back into the game with a three-run homer off Jeffrey Springs that made it 5-4 A’s in the fourth inning. It gives Mayo his 19th homer in his first full season, and he’s driven in 55 runs. The .218 average leaves a lot to be desired, but Mayo’s power is readily apparent.

The homer was Mayo’s 14th off a left-hander, which ties him with Matt Olson for first in the majors. He’s also first with an 1.109 OPS against southpaws (min. 100 PA), with Andrew Vaughn second at 1.041. And the homer today was projected at 446 feet, making him one of just eight players this year to exceed 440 feet four or more times (Junior Caminero and Kyle Schwarber are tops at six times apiece). Unfortunately, Mayo is still at a pretty horrible .199/.227/.272 in 225 plate appearances against righties this year, leaving his future as a regular rather murky. The power spike would be more promising if it wasn’t coming with a 32.5 percent strikeout rate. He finished at 28.6 percent as a rookie last year.

Mayo crushed a gargantuan 468-foot moonshot off Rays lefty starter Shane McClanahan to kick off the scoring in the second inning. It was his 16th big fly of the season. The 24-year-old former top prospect continues to do serious damage against left-handed pitching. He’s been finding ways to get into the lineup between the infield corners and DH over the last couple weeks.

Mayo’s home run was his 15th of the year. He hit a solo shot off Reid Detmers in the fourth inning. Mayo is 14-for-53 (.264) with five home runs, 11 runs scored and 10 RBI since the beginning of July.

Mayo gets the nod to face Phillies ace Cristopher Sánchez with Taylor Ward hitting second. It’s a bit of a different look for Baltimore, but one of their former top prospects has earned the opportunity by hitting .267 (8-for-30) with two homers in 11 games since last month’s All-Star break.

Mayo extended Baltimore’s early advantage with an RBI single against Tigers starter Keider Montero in the third inning before taking reliever Brenan Hanifee deep for a no-doubter to left field in the fifth. It was his 14th round-tripper of the season and fourth time he’s gone deep since the start of July.

Mayo’s home run was his 13th of the season. He hit a solo shot off Bryan King in the sixth inning. Mayo is 595 plate appearances into his big league career and it’s clear he has power (.169 career ISO) and will strike out (32 percent career strikeout percentage) too often. Mayo is hitting .197 in his career. While he’s potentially more of a .230-hitter, it doesn’t make much of a difference for fantasy unless he’s going to blossom into a threat to hit 40 homers.

Mayo plated the third, fourth and fifth runs of a six-run first inning with a wall-scraping double off the Green Monster. The 337-foot fly would have been an out in a lot of parks, but it was unplayable at Fenway. Mayo is currently hitting .203/.272/.,379 with 23 RBI in 169 plate appearances. It figured that he’d lose considerable playing time with Jackson Holliday back, but it hasn’t happened thus far, mostly because Jeremiah Jackson is in the midst of a lone slump that has sent his stock plummeting in Baltimore. Mayo has started seven of eight games since returning from a four-game absence due to back discomfort. Jackson has been in the lineup for just two of those games.

Mayo got the Orioles on the board and evened the score at a run apiece with his 400-foot (110.3 mph EV) solo shot off of Patrick Corbin in the fourth inning. That would be the extent of the Orioles’ offense. He struck out in his only other at-bat in the contest, finishing the night 1-for-2. On the season, the 24-year-old is slashing a miserable .200/.273/.370 with six homers and 19 RBI.

Mayo is back at DH and hitting fifth following a four-game absence due to lower back discomfort that cropped up last weekend. The 24-year-old former top prospect has been in a groove at the dish recently, hitting .292 (7-for-24) with one homer and three RBI over his last seven games. He’ll need to produce over an extended period before fantasy managers are ready to buy in again, but it’s never really been a talent issue with Mayo. A little bit of confidence could go a long way towards helping him finally reach his potential.

Mayo remains on the bench as he continues to deal with lower back discomfort that caused him to be scratched from Sunday’s doubleheader against the Tigers. The timing is unfortunate for the former top prospect as he was just starting to look comfortable at the dish. There’s a chance he requires a trip to the injured list if he’s unable to play later this week. It’ll be utility infielder Blaze Alexander handling the hot corner on Tuesday night in his place.

It’s unclear whether or not Mayo will be available off the bench or in the nightcap on Sunday. Weston Wilson will start in his place at third base and will bat sixth against Tigers’ southpaw Framber Valdez on Sunday afternoon.

Mayo catapulted Baltimore ahead with a three-run blast off Yankees reliever Brent Headrick after they were completely flummoxed by lefty Ryan Weathers for six-plus frames to open the contest. It was his fourth long ball of the season and first time leaving the yard since April 24. The 24-year-old former top prospect was a late addition to the lineup at DH after Samuel Basallo was scratched with knee discomfort.

Mayo has had an extended runway to show what he can do with both Jackson Holliday and Jordan Westburg shelved, but he has flailed his way to a brutal .158/.218/.277 slash line with just three homers and 12 RBI through his first 110 plate appearances. Weston Wilson will start in his place at the hot corner and will bat eighth for the O’s against Luis Severino and the Athletics on Sunday.

Mayo was responsible for Baltimore’s lone extra-base hit of the contest when he doubled against Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet with one out in the fourth inning. The 24-year-old former top prospect has shown some signs of life recently with hits in four consecutive games.

The 110-mph homer was Mayo’s lone hit of the day, but he did have a 108-mph lineout to go along with it. Kind of incredibly, Mayo now has 12 100-mph balls in play this season but only seven hit between 90-99 mph. The power is obviously there, but the consistent contact just isn’t, which is why he’s hitting .164 this year and .195 in 122 big-league games to date. If the Orioles get healthy, he still could wind up back in the minors at some point.

Mayo is just 6-for-38 on the season with one extra base hit and a 13/6 K/BB ratio. With Ryan Mountcastle (foot) now potentially out for over a month, Mayo should continue to get an opportunity to play regularly in Baltimore, but he’ll need to start producing soon before Jackson Holliday (hamate) returns to the lineup. For now, Blaze Alexander will start at third base and bat ninth.

His three balls in play were flies with 50-, 61- and 73-degree launch angles, all producing .010 xBAs. It’s still just 10 games, but Mayo is 5-for-30 with one extra-base hit (a double), one RBI and 11 strikeouts. A decent start probably would have kept him in the role as the Orioles’ primary third baseman at least until Jordan Westburg returned (if Westburg returns). As is, he could face demotion once Jackson Holliday is activated. It’s between him and Jeremiah Jackson, who, fortunately for Mayo, is also off to a poor start.