Pete Alonso teammate, former top 100 prospect might be the answer the NY Mets need

The New York Mets have holes to fill, pieces to move around, and questions to answer this offseason. The first, which is out of their control, is the fate of Bo Bichette. The trickledown effect of whether or not he’s back in the picture will determine a lot as to what’s next.

Ken Rosenthal’s poorly-timed question immediately after Thursday’s injury to Jared Young is a solvable one that maybe a trade with the Baltimore Orioles can help resolve.

Last offseason, Orioles rumors about a potential Mayo deal were a part of their post-signing of Pete Alonso fallout. Now 24 and still showing weaknesses in his game, Mayo isn’t much different from Mark Vientos in terms of what he can and cannot do. The major difference is the things he does well are done a whole lot better.

Why Coby Mayo is the Mark Vientos upgrade the Mets could use

Aside from smacking inside-the-park home runs in extras against the Mets, Mayo has been hammering left-handed pitchers all year. He has a 1.112 OPS against southpaws this season with 16 home runs. A third baseman who hasn’t defended his position all that well, moving across the diamond to first base isn’t an option while Alonso is around and not the full-time DH.

Even while at third base, Mayo hasn’t been atrocious. His -3 OAA this year at the hot corner is better than the kinds of numbers Vientos was posting during his time at third base. For reference, Vientos was at -6 in 2024 and -7 in 2025, the two seasons with the most time logged at the position.

Vientos has unsuccessfully made a switch over to first base. He’s at -10 OAA compared to Mayo who was at -2 in 2025 when he played the position for about half of the season. Vientos has continued to hit lefties well this year, but it pales in comparison to Mayo who is putting up unworldly numbers. Already 24 total home runs on the season after his dash around the bases earlier this week against the Mets, he has shown a knack for hitting for amazing power while also displaying some nice speed. He’s in the 63rd percentile in sprint speed while Vientos is 14th.

No doubt a limited player at this moment with major fixes needed to become more complete, Mayo checks off the box of being able to hit lefties at an incredible rate. It was something the Mets searched for throughout the 2026 campaign beyond just Vientos. Austin Slater, Tommy Pham, Eric Wagaman, and more tried and no one ever really stuck around.

What is Mayo worth to the Mets? At the start of the 2025 season, he was ranked as the 14th best prospect in the sport. Given that, he wouldn’t come cheap even with the Orioles acknowledging his shortcomings.

It’s surplus where the Mets should look to subtract. They have more starting pitching prospects than they’ll know what to do with. Jonah Tong is a player whose stock has fallen, but is it too soon to give up on him? Rule 5 eligible players such as Gary Gill Hill, Chris Suero, and Jacob Reimer are a couple of those with no clear path to the majors that could be of some interest to Baltimore. If the Orioles had interest in Brett Baty at all, he could make some sense. Where Mayo lacks on defense and hitting righties, Baty has upside.

Starting pitching or maybe a different third base candidate could end up being most desirable to them. The Mets have plenty of both as they restocked the farm with multiple infielders at the trade deadline. If Jefferson Rojas is at third base and Mitch Voit is at second base, players like Emilien Pitre, Sammy Stafura, and even Bruin Agbayani become odd men out very quickly.

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