DUNEDIN, Fla. — Coby Mayo wanted nothing more than to hit the ground running this spring training. Perhaps that’s why it didn’t happen.

The corner infield prospect stumbled in his first taste of the big leagues last season, and he was hoping to right those wrongs this spring. But he opened Grapefruit League play 1-for-23 at the plate, at times looking the way he did last summer when he debuted with the Orioles.

Manager Brandon Hyde said that he thought Mayo opened spring “a little bit overly aggressive” at the plate.

“I thought he was just trying a little too hard early,” Hyde said.

Mayo, the Orioles’ No. 2 prospect and one of the best power bats in the minor leagues, has started to loosen up in the box this week. After tallying just one single in his first nine games, Mayo has gone 4-for-12 with two doubles and a walk in his past five contests.

Against the host Toronto Blue Jays on Thursday, Mayo led off the second inning with a 101.4 mph double to left field off former Orioles farmhand Easton Lucas.

“It’s nice to have the hits fall,” said Mayo, who ended the day 1-for-4 with two strikeouts. “I’ve had hard contact earlier in camp, and [those] didn’t fall. Then I kind of struggled a little bit, you want some hits. Obviously, the last few games have been nice to see some balls fall, especially the doubles have been nice.”

Mayo hasn’t shied away from the challenges he faced last year and the difficulties mentally of being in a slump. The quicksand feeling of facing nasty stuff while in a rut is one that he’s learning to adapt to dig himself out of.

“Baseball is a very humbling game,” Mayo said. “I feel like my last 70 plate appearances have been humbling, for sure. But I think the 1,000 before that were amazing, and I think sometimes going through the struggles of it, you forget how good a player you were before.”

It was one thing last season to falter as obviously as he did, go into the offseason with motivation and work on improving his swing. What was challenging earlier this spring were the lineouts right at fielders and the frustration each time a good swing wouldn’t result in a hit. But the small stretch of success recently began with a bloop single, and he’s smacked two doubles in the days since.

“At first, it’s nice to hit the ball hard and you’re happy with that,” he said. “Once it happens again and again, it does get a little mentally exhausting. You want it to fall. I think the start of the last five games being good started with a broken bat bloop single. I think that’s appropriate with how you get a little bit of a hitting streak or a hot streak going.”

Hyde’s been pleased with how Mayo has looked “more relaxed” at the plate.

“I would just like to see him keep taking good at-bats, slowing the game down a little bit,” Hyde said.

Mayo’s chances of making the opening day roster aren’t high, though he could be the next man up if an injury to a corner infielder occurs. Still, he’s one of the club’s most prized prospects, and his future remains bright.

He knows all eyes will be on him when he does return to the majors, and he expects to be ready whenever that happens.

“Once I get the opportunity, maybe last year I was trying to do a little bit too much and early on stuff didn’t go my way,” he said. “Just be myself and have fun.”

Varsity blues: Hyde said pregame that it wouldn’t be a “make-or-break” start for Cade Povich’s chances to make the opening day rotation. If it were, though, it would be difficult to determine whether it was a make or a break.

Povich was excellent for four innings against what Hyde called the Blue Jays’ “varsity guys,” including Bo Bichette, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and former Oriole Anthony Santander.

Aside from allowing a bloop single in the first that drove in a run, the left-hander was in control through the first two turns of Toronto’s order.

It was the third that did him in.

The first four batters of the fifth inning reached base via hard-hit balls, including one that could’ve been ruled an error. With two outs after allowing two runs, Povich hung a breaking ball to Daulton Varsho, who deposited it over the right field wall at TD Ballpark.

“I think there’s plenty of good in the first four innings,” Povich said. “That last inning, it was the first time going into the fifth and first time seeing a lineup third time through. I definitely think there were things I could’ve picked up going into the fifth to have a better finish, but that’s why it’s spring training.”

Povich, who has a 4.66 ERA this spring, allowed eight hits and five runs in 4 2/3 innings. He didn’t walk a batter while striking out two.

“I don’t know if he got tired a little bit there in the fifth, got some balls elevated and hung that breaking ball to Varsho,” Hyde said. “But the three innings before that, I thought he had a really good changeup and his curveball was excellent today. I think it was a positive outing, it just didn’t end well.”

Povich is competing with Albert Suárez for the No. 5 spot in the Orioles’ rotation. If Povich doesn’t win the job, he will likely begin the season in Triple-A. He hopes his performance this spring has proven to be an extension of his excellent September when he posted a 2.60 ERA.

“Especially right now, every showing kind of matters as far as trying to make the team,” he said. “I think I’m still carrying over the stuff from the end of the year last year.”

Also in the Orioles’ 6-4 loss to the Blue Jays, relievers Cionel Pérez and Yennier Cano pitched scoreless innings. Bryan Baker, who allowed a single to Santander, gave up one run in his inning but struck out two. Vimael Machín’s drove in Mayo with a double in the second, while catching prospect Creed Willems doubled in the ninth and scored on outfield prospect Jud Fabian’s RBI single.

Have a news tip? Contact Jacob Calvin Meyer at jameyer@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/JCalvinMeyer.