Mayo settling into first base with Orioles

Coby Mayo walked into the clubhouse yesterday morning with a first baseman’s mitt in his hand and beads of sweat on his forehead.

He wasn’t in the lineup, but there’s always work to be done. 

Mayo got in more reps at his new position, with senior advisor John Mabry handling a bulk load of the tutelage.

“He’s been with me like side-by-side during the ground balls, talking to me, going through just different kind of plays that could pile up during a game,” Mayo said. “He’s been super good even in-game going over plays with me. Maybe somewhere where I could have done something a little better, encouraging me that, ‘That was a good play.’ Just kind of talking me through some of those in-game weird situations.”

Mayo is a third baseman who’s learning to play first, with the switch beginning in the minors. And it’s much more complicated than just moving across the diamond, away from a spot that he hadn’t mastered.

“It’s everywhere from footwork around the bag, double cuts, trail runner, popups, picks, bunts. It’s a lot,” he said.

“I’ve said it before, it’s probably an easier mindset at first than third, but you’re more in every play, just because any ground ball, you’ve got to go to the bag. And especially double cuts and trail runners. There’s just a lot that goes on at first.”

Part of it also is knowing when to range for a ground ball and when to break to the bag. Inexperienced fielders can get caught in-between, and any hesitation might kill the chance for an out.

“We’ve talked about it,” he said. “You’ve got to know where Jackson (Holliday) is playing, you’ve got to know what kind of runner it is, speed of the ball. That’s what Mabry talks about a lot – speed of the ball, speed of the runner. Sometimes, you take one hard step to your right and you don’t get it and you get back because if Jackson’s there, you’re there for him. And sometimes you think you can get it and you hope the pitcher gets over. It’s that weird in-the-middle play.

“At third, you’re expected to get everything you can going to your left, and at first it’s more one or two hard steps, and if not, get back to the bag.”

Having Holliday in the lineup every day makes it easier on Mayo. Jordan Westburg also plays second, but the Ramón Urías trade opened up third base for more regular duty. Holliday is atop the order on most nights. The right side of the infield also is a comfort zone.

“For sure,” Mayo said. “I think it was Jackson or Westy and they’re both really good infielders. Luckily, I didn’t have to worry about someone I wasn’t too familiar with over there. But now that it’s gonna be Jackson every day again, you feel comfortable with him. And playing alongside him in the minors, too, when I was at first a little bit. It’s easier just to know you have that intuition of what balls he can get to.”

Asked for his opinion yesterday on Mayo’s defense, interim manager Tony Mansolino implied that the former top prospect is an unfinished product who’s trending the right way.

“There’s moments where you go, ‘Whew, that was a really nice play,’ and then there’s moments where you go, ‘Not quite there yet.’ But I think he is progressing. I think he’s done a good job here for the last 2 ½ months, however long he’s been here. We’re really proud of the progress he’s made,” Mansolino said.

“I look at him now and when we put him out on defense, I’m not worried. I’m more like disappointed if he doesn’t make a play, whereas when he first came here, if he didn’t make a play, I kind of felt for him that we’re putting him in that situation. So my feelings on him have really changed. Our expectation level has changed. He’s worked hard for it. I feel comfortable with him playing first base. I love the target off the bag, I love the length off the bag. It’s a very underrated part of playing first base that people don’t talk about. So feel good about him.”

The Orioles are done shuttling Mayo between the majors and Triple-A. They’re done playing him at third base. He’s going to be in the lineup most days with Ryan O’Hearn traded. Ryan Mountcastle’s reinstatement from the injured list won’t interfere.

“The sky’s the limit for Coby,” Mansolino said, using Mountcastle as a comparison. “He’s got a long way to go. He’s not average for me yet, but he’s inching closer by the day. It’s gonna take a lot of work and that’s got to come from within. That’s not gonna be a scenario where coaches are grabbing him every day and saying, ‘Get your butt out here.’ It’s gonna be a scenario where he comes looking for coaches every day. As he goes looking for coaches and hunting the work, that’s when he’ll really take off.

“I don’t see the third base thing happening but I don’t make all the decisions. For me right now, I think he’s playing a real good first base. I think he tried really hard to play third base. It just didn’t work out. You’ve also got this guy there named Jordan Westburg. That’s pretty damn good. Is he gonna unseat Jordan Westburg? If he’s not, then why are we playing him at third base. He’s got to be able to play first base, and that’s kind of where the at-bats are going forward.”

MLB Pipeline ranks Samuel Basallo as the No. 9 prospect in baseball and his promotion isn't too far down the road. He’s a catcher who also plays first, and he can complicate Mayo’s life.

“For Coby, it’s get really good at first base, and then at that point you’ve got to swing the bat because our guy’s coming, Basallo’s coming,” Mansolino said. “He plays a really good first base. So there’s gonna be competition internally for that job, and Coby’s gonna get some run, he’s gonna get a lot of opportunities, he’s gonna get a lot of chances to fail, which we’re giving him right now. And then at some point the best man kind of takes the job, and that’s normal, that’s healthy, and that’s what you want in a good organization. And that situation’s coming.”

Mansolino made certain that Mountcastle, a two-time Gold Glove finalist who’s a year away from free agency, understood the situation with Mayo. He's earned that consideration. 

“Mounty knows with kind of where he’s at in terms of arbitration and everything going on, he knows he’s got to hit,” Mansolino said. “He’s aware of that, we’ve talked about it. Everybody in the room kind of knows where that thing’s at.

“For him, yeah, he would love to play first base and he’s really good at it, but just to have the ability to focus on his hitting right now is gonna help him more so than anything. We know he can play defense, he knows he can play defense. He’s got to get back to the Mountcastle of old to put himself in a good position for this winter.”

Mayo worked just as hard at third base as first. Effort wasn’t the issue. But it made sense to pick a position for him.

“I haven’t taken a ground ball at third since Triple-A,” he said. “Just having that clear mindset that it’s gonna be first from here on out. I don’t know what next year looks like. You never know what the future holds, but I know for the rest of the year it’s gonna be first. It is easier just to go about my work knowing that first base is at least my short-term position right now.”

The improvements are noticeable. Among a series of the Orioles’ plus defensive plays against the Athletics was Mayo racing into foul territory and catching a popup as he jumped into the protecting netting.

“Looking back at the video, it looked a lot easier on the video,” he said. “It’s not an easy play. I’ve struggled a lot with popups at first over the minor leagues and in the big leagues a little bit because the ball spins different off a right-handed hitter off the bat. It kind of comes back in toward the field of play.

“In Texas I had one and I overran it and had to jump back toward the field of play, and I caught it. But just working with Mabry again on that, knowing once the ball gets above the stadium, it’s gonna come back toward that field of play. So you’re always trying to play the ball off of your left shoulder, hoping it’s gonna come back toward you. So that’s what I’ve been doing on those popups. And you also have to know how much room you have in foul territory. Every stadium is a lot different. Like Chicago, there’s no room at all. And then you go to a place like Cleveland and you have 200 feet it feels like of room.

“We’ve done multiple days of popup drills, just trying to put balls in the sun, trying to read balls. You want to practice every kind of play you think you’re gonna get, and the hardest ones, and hopefully when you get in the game it’s easier.”

Mayo got into yesterday’s game when he pinch-hit for Jordyn Adams in the seventh inning and doubled to break a 1-1 tie. The Orioles are off today and Mayo probably will return to first base Tuesday night against the Mariners.