Travis Bazzana

Travis William Bazzana

Bats Left, Throws Right
Height 6' 0", Weight 199 lb.
School Oregon State University
High School Turramurra High School
Debut April 28, 2026

Born August 28, 2002 in Hornsby, New South Wales Australia

Biographical Information[edit]

2B/OF Travis Bazzana was the first overall pick of the 2024 amateur draft, taken out of Oregon State University by the Cleveland Guardians. Born and raised in Australia, he was the highest drafted player from that country, and the highest pick ever from outside North America. The Guardians had won the draft lottery in spite of long odds to secure the pick, and it was the first time in franchise history that they were picking first overall. In order to get to America for the first time, to take part in a youth tournament, he had to raise some money and did so by importing and selling the Big League Chew brand of bubble gum down under.

At Oregon State, Bazzana had hit over .300 in all three of his seasons, playing over 60 games all three years and topping up at .407 in 2024, with 28 doubles and 66 RBIs. At one point that season, he hit a lead-off homer in four straight games to draw national attention, and he obliterated the school's record for homer in a season, which was previously 21. Prior to college, he had played three seasons in the Australian Baseball League while still attending high school, although he only saw very limited action as a raw teenager playing among grown men, but the experience was invaluable from a development point of view. He represented Australia at the 2019 U-18 Baseball World Cup in South Korea, where he had just turned 17 and was among the youngest players at the event (a number of those who starred there were already established major leaguers by the time he was drafted). In addition to bis brilliance in college, he was the MVP of the Cape Cod League in the summer of 2023. He was widely mentioned as a potential number one pick, even a year prior to the draft itself, and as a player who was certain not to last beyond the first two or three picks given his exceptional talent as a hitter. The only question was whether he would stick as an infielder in the pros, or be moved to the outfield.

He has cited former major leaguer Ryan Rowland-Smith as being a long-time mentor, who encouraged him in his decision not to turn pro early but to go to a U.S. college instead, a path not normally taken by talented Australian players: only two Australians who had been drafted out of a U.S. college had made it to the majors: Mark Ettles, who was drafted in 1989, and Josh Spence, drafted in 2010. He was almost certain to be the third. As a youth, he played various sports in addition to baseball, including cricket, which he had credited with helping his bat-to-ball skills, but baseball was his favorite sport from the age of five. Former major leaguer Glenn Williams, now CEO of Baseball Australia, explained that he had known him from that tender age through baseball clinics sponsored by the country's national baseball program.

He signed quickly with the Guardians, doing so on July 19th for a reported bonus of $8.95 million, which was under slot value, and headed to the Midwest League to start his pro career with the Lake County Captains. He played his first minor league game on July 27th, and quickly got his first RBI, hit, run, extra-base hit and multi-hit game in his first two games. He was the first player from the 2024 draft to appear in a minor league game, a result of his having come to terms with Cleveland so quickly. His first professional home run came in his next game, and it was a grand slam against the Beloit Sky Carp on July 31st. He played 27 games, hitting .238/.369/.396, with 3 homers, 20 runs and 12 RBIs. Following the season, he joined the Australian national team for the 2024 Premier 12 tournament in Nagoya, Japan.

Before the 2025 season, he was a non-roster invitee for spring training with the Guardians. He was quickly able to demonstrate both his patience at the plate and his power, as coming into a Cactus League game against the Milwaukee Brewers on February 25th, he drew two walks then homered in the 9th inning, the ball traveling an impressive 443 feet. He spent that season in the minors, playing 85 games at three levels (he played 7 games with the ACL Guardians on a rehabilitation assignment after an oblique injury). He hit .256 in 51 games for the AA Akron Rubber Ducks and .225 in 26 games for the AAA Columbus Clippers. His combined slash line was .245/.389/..424 with 9 homers and 39 RBIs.

Prior to the 2026 season, he was named to the Australian team for the 2026 World Baseball Classic. He led the team with 16 at-bats in the four games the Aussies played, and one of his three hits was a homer in a 3-0 win over Chines Taipei. He started the season in Columbus, where he hit .287 with 2 homers and 10 RBIs in his first 24 games. On April 27th, the Guardians announced that he was being called up to Cleveland to make his debut the next day. He started at second base against the Tampa Bay Rays, batting seventh, and went 0 for 2 with 2 walks in a 1-0 loss by the Guardians. He went hitless in his next two games as well before getting his first safety on May 2nd, a bases-loaded two-out single in the 8th inning against Hogan Harris of The Athletics. He was 0 for 12 at that point, but had managed to draw five walks, so he was still contributing. He hit his first career homer on May 8th, a blast to right field off Connor Prielipp of the Minnesota Twins in the 1st inning of a 6-4 win. He quickly became the regular second baseman for the team and at the end of May was batting .294 in 30 games, with 3 homers, 13 runs and 11 RBIs. He had the best game of his career thus far on June 20th when he went 4 for 4 with two homers and five RBIs in an 8-1 win over the Houston Astros. He was the first Guardians player with four hits and five RBIs in a game since Josh Naylor in 2023. One of his two homers led off the game, already the second time he had done so in his young career, and it was his first multi-homer game.

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