BALTIMORE -- The dog days of summer have long passed and the final stretch of baseball season is here. It can be a grueling time for some, especially teams not bound for the postseason -- such as the Orioles, who fell to 73-82 with their 6-1 loss to the Yankees at Camden Yards on Saturday night and will finish with a losing record for the first time since 2021.
Yet, Coby Mayo's pregame routine in late September hasn’t changed from June, July or August.
Every day before batting practice, Mayo gets on his knees in the grassy area in front of Baltimore’s dugout and goes through glovework drills with John Mabry, a longtime coach who has been a senior advisor on the O’s staff since June 1.
Once Mayo is done scooping balls there, the 23-year-old rookie moves to the diamond and stands at first base -- a position he’s still getting adjusted to after coming up through the Minors as a third baseman -- and puts his skills to the test, also working on positioning and reads. Then, he’ll get into the cage for several rounds of BP.
There haven’t been many (if any) days off -- not even on mornings before day games.
"He’s come out every day, and that’s half of it -- hungry, available, teachable, right?” Mabry said. “You’ve got to be hungry for the information, available to get the information and be able to learn the information.”
A 2020 fourth-round Draft pick and former top prospect, Mayo knows that if he’s going to reach his potential and become a big league star that he can’t ease up -- even now, when the season is winding down and he’s part of an underperforming team.
Part of the fuel for Mayo’s final push came during his pregame work from Sept. 5-7, when the Dodgers and nine-time All-Star first baseman Freddie Freeman came to Camden Yards.
“Me and Mabry were doing our drills and you go out there and Freddie Freeman’s doing his drills out there early. He’s going to be a Hall of Famer, he’s one of the best pure players in this league,” Mayo said. “He’s out there working, and if he can do it in Year [16], I definitely should be doing it. It kind of just brings you motivation when you see those guys still doing it.
"You can never be satisfied with where you’re at. Doesn’t matter if you feel like you’re at your best, you still have to keep working.”
Mayo will admit he’s not yet at his best. His defense at first has improved, but it’s still a work in progress. Meanwhile, his offensive skills haven’t yet fully translated from Triple-A, where he was one of the best hitters in the Minor Leagues over the past three years.
In 2024, Mayo went 4-for-41 (.098) with no extra-base hits during his initial 17-game taste of the Majors. Entering September this year, he was hitting .184 with a .588 OPS over 61 games for the O’s. However, the club gave the youngster consistent playing time considering its position near the bottom of the standings and its focus on improvement for ‘26.
This month, things have started to click for Mayo, who is hitting .286 (16-for-56) with three homers and an .865 OPS in 17 September games. On Saturday, the right-handed slugger collected a pair of hits off Yankees All-Star left-hander Carlos Rodón and drove in the Orioles’ lone run with an RBI double in the seventh inning.
"We have a lot of faith in the fact that Coby can handle left-handed pitching,” interim manager Tony Mansolino said. “I think he is proving himself there. Obviously, the next step is going to be against the other side here at some point, which he will get.”
Mabry is confident that Mayo -- who has a .188/.270/.331 slash line against righties and a .244/.316/.430 line vs. lefties -- can get there, too.
“He just had to have that long runway to kind of fail and see which direction he needs to go,” Mabry said. “Very rarely does a person come in this league and just take off and do really, really well.”
That’s why all of the work put in by Mayo is important as he eyes more late success that could help position him as a key cog among Baltimore’s core for many years.
"Looking for a good last week, and if I can go into the offseason with a little peace of mind that I finished the year strong and I can put up these little goals,” Mayo said, “I think it’s a positive.”