Coby Mayo was drafted as a shortstop and spent most of his time in the minor leagues at third base. But the Orioles’ top infield prospect has been following in the footsteps of a star first baseman since Little League.
Mayo, 23, first met Anthony Rizzo when he was 9 or 10 years old. The fellow Parkland, Florida, native — a three-time All-Star and 2016 World Series champion with the Chicago Cubs — has long spent his offseasons back home working out at TBT Training with trainer Tom Flynn, the father of one of Mayo’s best friends.
Despite a 12-year age gap, Mayo and Rizzo, a free agent, developed a relationship when the former was in high school, and they’ve become close over the years.
“When I got drafted, he immediately wanted to start working out with me,” Mayo said. “He pushed to work out with me. He wanted to kind of get me in his corner, and it’s been nice to have somebody like that, a potential Hall of Famer, World Series winner, a great guy in the clubhouse, just be with him and how hard he works. He’s just an unbelievable person.”
The Orioles recalled Mayo on May 31 after first baseman Ryan Mountcastle suffered a significant hamstring injury, giving the 2020 fourth-round pick and consensus top-30 prospect his first extended chance to prove himself at the MLB level. After struggling to settle in at third base over his first few stints, Mayo has played exclusively first since returning to Baltimore.
It’s still a relatively new position for Mayo, who has started 73 games there in the minor leagues compared with 307 at third. He didn’t start playing first base somewhat regularly until 2023 when the Orioles had him start about a fifth of his games at the position. That climbed slightly to 25% last season before spiking to over 50% with Triple-A Norfolk this year as Jordan Westburg entrenched himself as the Orioles’ third baseman of the future.
“Playing third throughout the minor leagues, it’s relatively similar,” Mayo said. “Some different things are more important. Obviously, picking the ball, coming off the bag, double plays, those are the most important things at first. Trying to help out the infielders in case there’s a bad throw. And then, obviously, just playing there in general gives you more confidence, and just being confident at a position after playing it for a while helps.”
Defense has been the biggest question mark of Mayo’s profile since he was drafted. With all the other infield talent the Orioles produced through their farm system, his long-term defensive home is still a long way away from being determined.
But Mayo hasn’t waited around for that decision to be made for him. He’s taken the field early for infield drills nearly every day before games, working with several coaches at first base, including senior adviser John Mabry.
“Handwork, understanding footwork around the bag, how to use your glove through the ball and that kind of stuff,” Mabry said. “So, finding the fence on popups and the way the ball bounces and curves back toward the field. Just all the things that he would have experienced had he played that position for a long period of time, but he hasn’t. So, just trying to help him speed up the process.”
Coby Mayo has spent the past 20 minutes working on his defense at first base.
Tony Mansolino, John Mabry, Robinson Chirinos and Buck Britton all working with him. pic.twitter.com/SpNd84xX8U
— Jacob Calvin Meyer (@jcalvinmeyer) June 8, 2025
The Orioles showed some faith in the progress Mayo has made Saturday when they kept him at first base for the ninth inning with closer Félix Bautista coming in for a one-run save. It was the first time he played the field in the ninth inning of a one-run game after being lifted for a defensive replacement in each of his first three would-be opportunities.
He’s also started to show more flashes at the plate, going 5-for-18 (.278) with three doubles, three walks and five strikeouts over the Orioles’ past three series. Mayo has started to feel more comfortable this time around, and having one position to focus on rather than bouncing around between different spots certainly doesn’t hurt.
“He looks good. He’s working hard,” fellow first baseman Ryan O’Hearn said Sunday. “I just worked with him out there. He looks good. It’s just, you got to work at it every day to be good over there. It’s a harder position than people give it credit for and there’s a lot of nuances to the position. Learning what balls to go for, what balls not, picks, all kinds of stuff. So, I think he’s got to stay on it and he’s more than capable of being a good defender over there.”
As Mayo attempts to solidify himself in the majors, he has Rizzo — a four-time Gold Glove Award winner — to lean on. He hasn’t started peppering Rizzo with defense questions just yet, but the veteran first baseman is still in his ear.
“He actually called me a [couple of weeks] ago when I was in St. Paul[, Minnesota],” Mayo said. “Just checking in on me. He was excited for me. He said he’s not nervous about how my time has been. He knows I’m going to get a good shot here soon, and I’m just happy with how I’m playing right now.”
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