BALTIMORE—Coby Mayo joined Colton Cowser, Jackson Holliday and Grayson Rodriguez as Orioles who’ve been sent back to Triple-A Norfolk after a challenging first stint in the major leagues.
Mayo goes back down after one hit in 17 at-bats, and manager Brandon Hyde believes the experience was a positive one.
“I think Coby’s going to be better for it, just like Cowser was, just like Grayson was, Jackson earlier this year,” Hyde said. “When you go back down, you understand what the speed of the game is up here, the importance of certain things, just what major league pitching looks like.”
Mayo was replaced by infielder Lívan Soto, who can play second base, shortstop and third base. Mayo played third base with the Orioles, and he’s also played first base at Norfolk.
“Adding Soto adds more defensive flexibility for us, a guy that can play three spots in the infield, run,” Hyde said.
Soto was with the Orioles on August 1st for a day before he was returned to Norfolk and Mayo was promoted. It’s his third stint in the Orioles’ organization. He was lost on waivers twice, to the Los Angeles Angels and Cincinnati, and then acquired from the Reds along with outfielder Austin Slater on July 30th.
“It’s part of the process, and all I can do is learn from it,” Soto said through an interpreter. “Get mentally tougher, mentally strong. I’ll just learn from this experience and be ready to go.”
Mayo was hitless in 16 at-bats before he singled in the fifth inning on Wednesday night. He also walked and scored a run in the Orioles’ 4-1 win over the Washington Nationals.
“If we were optioning him down, I was hoping he was going to get a hit last night,” Hyde said.
Cowser had a rough time with the Orioles last year, hitting just .115 in 26 games before he was returned to Norfolk.
“You’re really trying to show what you can do given the situation that you’re put in,” Cowser said. “Sometimes you can get out of your element, get out of your game. I was told this last year, it’s never a bad thing to come to the big leagues and experience failure.”
Hyde can see how different the game is at Triple-A, and what Mayo, the 10th overall prospect according to MLB Pipeline, saw in his seven games in the majors.
“Now Coby knows how it is up here,” Hyde said.