Baltimore Orioles rookie Coby Mayo's first Major League Baseball (MLB RBI) turned into an adventure that he made on Saturday.
In his 22nd Pro Competition, the top 100 prospect finally ran with RBI singles, scoring Ryan O'Hearn from second base in the fourth inning. However, the scene turned sour when Chicago White Sox third baseman Josh Rojas cut from left fielder Joshua Palacios and caught Mayo trying to sneak into second base.
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The show turned into a failure between first and second. Mayo was quickly caught and pushed his response by giving Lenyn Sosa hard before first baseman Miguel Vargas marked him out. Both Sosa and Vargas are exceptional, facing Mayo as he lies on the ground. Mayo doesn't like this treatment because Sosa walked away.
Tips for bench cleaning.
According to charity, the 23-year-old Mayo's push can be seen as a way to interfere with Sosa while running out of the baseline to avoid labels. However, this strategy doesn't work well when you're in contact with an extended weapon, and the tactic starts contact with a fielder running fielder.
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Mayo confirmed this was what he did after the game through Masn's Roch Kubatko:
"Yeah, obviously, just trying to get into second base and trying to get into Kjerstad's scoring position," Mayo said. "Shut it off and got into a failure. Obviously, just being told in the minor league to keep it going, I thought he was at baseline and trying to get some connection. It didn't mean upgrading. I'm not going to do that. Just do it.
"These guys always have your support. I think everyone here will fight for each other - not literally, but, you know, everyone is back. I think that's what happened. Look for teammates and we'll do the same for them."
Oriole interim manager Tony Mansolino offers more details behind the script, but ultimately agrees to UMPS’ attempt not to buy Mayo:
"He's an infielder now, right? Well, when we're in spring training talking about run-down, one of the things we often talk to infielders is not going to cross the line because if you're in contact with the infielder, it's A, that's A, I think they call it a Type 2 blocker and then you get a second base automatically.
“So, I think instinctively seeking connection with the infielder there, and visually it doesn’t look the best, but I think most coaches might go, ‘The bad baseball game isn’t.’ Just not working with our support.”
This is not how you draw interfering calls in the major leagues. Coby Mayo tried it. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Image)
(Mitchell Layton via Getty Image)Ultimately, it was a rookie moment for a player, and his career didn’t start with the best foot. Mayo is one of the smaller prospects in the Orioles youth sport - the MLB Pipeline lists him as the 14th-place prospect for baseball entering the season - but he entered Saturday's .094/.186/.094 in 59 sets appearances between 2024 and 2025.
Mayo's power is a grading by Pipeline plus points, and he's still waiting for his first extra hit rate in the majors. He has a chance to be a daily player in the Orioles’ infield once he starts hitting like a minor.
Unfortunately, even his first RBI showed that he still had learning.