On the home stretch of a season filled with ups and downs, the development of Coby Mayo has been an undeniable bright spot. 

His prowess against left-handed pitching, though well documented, is worth repeating. Entering play this afternoon, the slugger is slashing .316/.380/.735 against southpaws, good for a 1.115 OPS. Among players with at least 80 plate appearances against left-handers this season, that .735 slugging percentage is the best in baseball by a country mile. 

The 1.115 OPS is the best, too, as is his 208 wRC+ and 16 home runs. 

“The power numbers, I don’t know why I’m hitting so well and why I’m hitting so many homers off of them,” Mayo told Annie Klaff and I with a smile. 

“I think a lot of it comes from confidence,” he added. 

What would starter Brandon Young do as a lefty facing Mayo? 

“Ask my coach to pull me,” BY joked. 

“I think he’s just comfortable,” Young added. “When you get called up, and you’re afraid to fail, you’re trying to make the big play. He’s had so many opportunities and he’s had his stable feet in the big leagues, it’s like ‘alright, I’m here.’” 

It’s not just the numbers against lefties that have impressed, either. In his 52 games since July 1, Mayo has a .924 OPS and 13 home runs overall. We saw flashes of this to end last season, but now, the slugger is finding sustained success. 

“My last September was a big month for me, knowing that I could hit at this level,” Mayo said. 

“Sometimes there’s that self doubt, ‘I hit really well at Triple-A for a long time, but can I hit in the big leagues?’ I think a lot of young guys that have failure at the big league level kind of go through that a little bit,” he added. “The self doubt and the worry if it’s ever going to click at this level because it’s so hard.

“Didn’t have a good start to the season, and kind of felt like ‘oh God, we’re back to the same struggles that I’ve had the last few years at the big league level. Gotta kind of keep pushing, and that’s what I did.” 

Now, Mayo isn’t resigned to being a platoon bat, either. This afternoon, against a right-handed starter, the right-handed Mayo is back in the lineup batting cleanup. 

From the start of 2026 through the end of June, the Floridian struggled mightily against righties. In the 163 plate appearances up to June 30, Mayo had just a .450 OPS, 3 home runs, a 36.8 percent strikeout rate and 28 wRC+ against right-handers. 

That script has completely flipped. 

In the 85 plate appearances against righties since July 1, Mayo has a .719 OPS, 4 home runs, a 27.1 percent strikeout rate and 99 wRC+. In fact, in September, it’s a .286 batting average, a 1.262 OPS, a 6.7 percent strikeout rate and a 243 wRC+. 

Unsurprisingly, Mayo has benefited from one of the best sluggers in the game, too. 

“You can ask him a question, and he’ll give you a 10-minute detailed description of what he thinks,” Mayo said of Pete Alonso. 

“We were in St. Louis, and I had an at-bat where I didn’t love one of my swings, and he was DH’ing so he was in there. He was getting ready to hit in between innings, and I was like, ‘hey, let me ask you a question real quick about this swing.’ He didn’t hit. He was like, ‘let’s look at this swing,’ broke it down, gave me a few drills to do. That’s just Pete for you.” 

Despite a slow start to the season, Mayo has now established himself as one of the most important pieces of the Orioles lineup. His 23 home runs rank second on the team, as do his 60 RBIs. Among O’s with at least 50 games played, Mayo ranks second on the club with a .468 slugging percentage and third with a .757 OPS. 

Moving forward, the outlook of the third base position is cloudy. Mayo, Blaze Alexander and Christian Encarnacion-Strand have all had standout seasons, and Jordan Westburg’s All-Star pedigree hasn’t gone away despite his recent injury misfortune. Regardless, one thing is clear: Mayo has earned the right to be in the lineup consistently.

Check out our full conversation with Mayo and Young here: https://masn.me/p848j2dr