Both have turned their seasons around since, thanks to some adjustments from the Orioles\u2019 hitting coaches. Since Westburg\u2019s surgery on May 15, the Orioles\u2019 third basemen rank near the top of the league offensively, and there\u2019s a case now that both should be included in the team\u2019s best lineups.<\/p>\n
\u201cBlaze\u2019s superpower is his ability to play all over the field and be that versatile piece for us, and Coby has shown, as of late, the ability, one, to play third base and also to be an impact bat,\u201d manager Craig Albernaz said. \u201cIt\u2019s a nice problem to have.\u201d<\/p>\n
Early on, though, third base was not such a nice problem. Mayo was given the run of the position after Westburg was shut down early in spring training with a sprained ulnar collateral ligament. He hit well in spring training but failed to carry that into the season. He was batting .152 with a .500 OPS entering their series finale against the Marlins last month \u2014 a homecoming game of sorts for Mayo. <\/p>\n
![\"Baltimore](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1781637678_832_NMUH52T55VDUFJRPSLIDT5XHNE.jpg\")
Orioles third baseman Coby Mayo throws to first base for an out during a game against the Washington Nationals on May 15. (Terrance Williams\/AP)<\/p>\n
His costly ninth-inning error meant that the Orioles suffered a walk-off loss in the series finale on May 7<\/a>, but he felt like the two hits that preceded it marked the beginning of something better at the plate. He went hitless in two games against the Athletics at home that weekend, but hit a go-ahead three-run home run<\/a> in the seventh inning against the Yankees on May 11. That was a turning point for him.<\/p>\n \u201cThat kind of boosted me a little bit, gave me a little bit of confidence and had a good few games after that,\u201d he said. \u201cI think just from there, just rolling.\u201d<\/p>\n He also cited more chances against left-handed pitching since then, with Mayo hitting an eye-popping .526 with a 1.835 OPS off lefties since May 11. <\/p>\n \u201cOnce you get a little confidence in this game, it can go a long way,\u201d he said. \u201cIt gives you confidence versus righties, lefties. Gives you confidence at third base, just playing better.\u201d<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t all just feel, though. Given how well he was hitting the ball in spring, he held off on implementing the plan the hitting coaches had for him when he reported. His slow start led him to decide he was going to \u201cput my faith in them a little bit more and go all-in on what they told me,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n They suggested Mayo move closer to home plate to give him a better look at the pitches on the outer half, particularly spin from a right-handed pitcher that breaks away, which has long been how pitchers try to get him out. <\/p>\n He was, on average, 27.6 inches off the plate in 2025, according to MLB Statcast data. He was 2 1\/2 inches closer at 25.2 inches off the plate in Sunday\u2019s game, which is around what he\u2019s been since May 1. It\u2019s changed how he sees those pitches off the plate. If it starts middle-away now, he says, he can recognize it\u2019s likely going to be a ball \u2014 a perspective he didn\u2019t have when he was farther from the plate and felt they could still end up strikes.<\/p>\n Mayo has known for years those sliders from righties are the hardest pitches to hit.<\/p>\n \u201cI think to change a team\u2019s perspective and plan against you, you kind of have to force them to, which is not chasing at the sliders, and then ones that are in-zone, hitting them hard,\u201d he said. \u201cI think I\u2019ve been doing that a little bit more recently,\u201d <\/p>\n Including that May 11 home run against the Yankees, Mayo has a .791 OPS and six home runs \u2014 and a throwing program<\/a> has helped him on the defensive side, where he has had just one error since that Marlins loss.<\/p>\n Alexander had a similar moment that turned his season around with the hitting coaches. He came to the field ahead of the doubleheader on April 30<\/a> and assistant hitting coach Brady North asked him about reintroducing some forward pressure to his stance as he had in past years.<\/p>\n To that point, Alexander had been shifting his weight toward his backside and couldn\u2019t get consistent with his timing. He was fouling off fastballs he felt he should be on time for. And while he was by expected metrics one of the unluckiest hitters in the game through April, he was ready for a change.<\/p>\n \u201cThe light bulb went off in my head \u2014 that\u2019s kind of what I\u2019ve done the past two or three years, it\u2019s just something I knew I could repeat, and I started working right away,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n In the first game of that doubleheader, Alexander shot a double to right field and added a walk. He hadn\u2019t been on base twice in the same game for over three weeks, and his season took off from there. He\u2019s hitting .383 with a .991 OPS in 105 plate appearances since; his wRC+ of 176 \u2014 with 100 representing league-average \u2014 is sixth-best in all of baseball since May 1.<\/p>\n He cites a \u201csauna sesh\u201d with infield coach Miguel Cairo where they talked baseball as starting his mental turnaround.<\/p>\n \u201cHonestly, it felt like I started asking questions, started talking, getting feedback, and things just started kind of coming together,\u201d Alexander said. \u201cFirst, I wanted to just control at-bats, have really good at-bats, grind the pitcher out, and then the barrels started to come after that. Then, I\u2019m up there really just competing. That\u2019s the bottom line \u2014 compete.” <\/p>\n It\u2019s now been a month since Westburg\u2019s season-ending Tommy John surgery<\/a> was announced. We were seeing glimpses of improvement from Alexander and Mayo at that point, but such was their circumstance at the position that Jackson Holliday was taking reps<\/a> there on his rehab assignment in case the team needed a solution.<\/p>\n In the month since, the third base position for the Orioles \u2014 with one game of Holliday and a handful of Weston Wilson at-bats mixed in \u2014 has been among the most productive in the league, providing an .816 OPS and 124 wRC+ that ranks fifth in baseball.<\/p>\n What was once a place in the Orioles\u2019 lineup where it felt like president of baseball operations Mike Elias may have to address via trade midseason is instead one that gives Albernaz multiple options.<\/p>\n \u201cMe and Coby are both capable of going out there and playing third base and being in that lineup,\u201d Alexander said, noting that his own role is different based on how much he moves around. \u201cI\u2019m excited for what\u2019s to come.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Blaze Alexander was fooling himself. Literally. By the end of April, pressed into near-everyday service for the Orioles…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":727680,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2374],"tags":[143,39604,47,2538,5,4,23849,125],"class_list":["post-727679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-baltimore-orioles","tag-baltimore","tag-baltimore-city","tag-baltimore-orioles","tag-baltimoreorioles","tag-baseball","tag-mlb","tag-opacy","tag-orioles"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116761413962738437","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/727679","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=727679"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/727679\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/727680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=727679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=727679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=727679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/FELGKOENW5GNTIOHOHKVA45LPE.jpg\")
Orioles third baseman Blaze Alexander runs to first base after connecting with a pitch in the ninth inning against the Tampa Bay Rays on May 25. (Ulysses Mu\u00f1oz\/The Banner)<\/p>\n