The Cleveland Guardians may have fallen just short of the World Series once again, but there were a lot of positive takeaways that the fans should feel good about from this season. This squad is knocking on the door of finally ending the longest World Series drought in MLB if the young talent can take another step forward and the front office can go get one or two more missing pieces on the open market.
One area of untapped potential lies with former No. 1 pick Travis Bazzana. His promotion provided a significant boost to this lineup, and while the .742 OPS and 15 home runs he posted were solid numbers, he has legitimate superstar potential and could absolutely be an .850 OPS/25-homer bat as a sophomore.
There is little doubt about his bat coming along, but the team is reportedly hoping he’ll focus on improving his defense this offseason, as reported by Cleveland.com’s Paul Hoynes in a recent article.
“Rookie Travis Bazzana is headed home to Australia with a big item on his to-do list — improve defensively at second base. The Guardians feel his defense improved in the second half, but he still needs work,” Hoynes wrote.
Bazzana made only eight errors at second base, but he showed noticeable improvement as the season went on. He registered a negative fielding run value through the end of June, but he flipped that to a positive afterwards. His defense is far from a liability, but he has the skill set and the athleticism to be one of the elite defenders at second base.
Bazzana was adamant after this season ended that he expects this young group to end the World Series drought and he believes the core is in place to get it done. Few teams relied on rookies as heavily as this team did, but the playoff experience they got should help them get to where they need to be.
This team needs Bazzana to keep getting better to finally get over the hump. He did nothing in 2026 to lead the fans to believe that it won’t happen.
NEXT: Insider Clears Up Big Question About Joey Cantillo In 2027
