It took a while for Travis Bazzana to get his first major league hit after being promoted by the Cleveland Guardians. The second baseman has become more productive at the plate, and he accomplished the significant milestone of his first MLB home run on Friday in a win against the Minnesota Twins.
Bazzana is also making a significant impact in another important area of the game. With four stolen bases in his past two games, he now has six on the season.
That means Bazzana is doing something Cleveland hasn’t seen since 1990, with his pace equaling that of rookie Alex Cole from decades ago.
“He’s the first Cleveland rookie with six stolen bases in his first nine games since Alex Cole in 1990,” Zack Meisel wrote.
Cole wound up stealing a career-high 40 bases in his rookie season. The outfielder went on to steal 36 more in two additional seasons with Cleveland before ending his seven-year MLB career with 148 in 573 games.
Bazzana may have been able to better Cole’s fast start, but you first have to get on base before you can steal one, and the Australian wasn’t doing that to begin his big league career. He was 0-for-12 before he got his first hit on May 2 against the Athletics, though he did have four walks in that span.
Since then, Bazzana is 6-for-18 with three walks, which has allowed him to post his first six MLB stolen bases, and he impressively has not been caught once. Though his batting average is just .200, his on-base percentage is a more robust .368, after it was as high as .409.
That plate discipline was noticeable during Bazzana’s brief minor league career, but the stolen bases are a new facet to his game. In his 135 minor league appearances, he had an OBP of .391, but he put up just 25 stolen bases in his three seasons.
With the Guardians, Bazzana may be trying to produce offense by any means necessary. They have suffered through a dearth of power from the middle of their lineup, but have moved up into the middle of the pack in MLB in runs scored.
Bazzana has made most of his plate appearances batting No. 6 or No. 7 in the order, which isn’t a traditional spot to steal bases from, but if he continues to have the success he’s having, there’s no reason to stop.
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