While the World Baseball Classic is a showcase for the game’s biggest stars, such as Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge, it also provides lesser-known prospects with the opportunity to face high-level competition on a big stage. One of the best was Cleveland Guardians second baseman Travis Bazzana, who got to compete for his native Australia.
In his four tournament games, Bazzana showed why he is considered the Guardians’ top overall prospect and the No. 20 prospect in all of baseball, according to MLB.com. Though Australia failed to advance to the quarterfinals, the 23-year-old definitely made an impression.
MLB.com named Bazzana among the WBC’s top prospect performers, based on his clutch hitting and good defense.
“The No. 1 pick in the 2024 Draft put together three hits for Australia, and he really made them count. Bazzana crushed a no-doubter solo home run and singled in the team’s first game — and came around to score on a walk in the second game. He also delivered a crucial RBI single in Australia’s final game against Korea, all while providing impressive defense at the keystone,” Ben Weinrib wrote.
Bazzana is the highest-ranked overall prospect on this list and could be the most likely to play in the major leagues this season. Though he may begin the season at Triple-A Columbus, an in-season promotion to make his MLB debut is a very good possibility.
He batted just .188 (3-for-18) in the WBC, but his hits were important. His home run against Chinese Taipei helped Australia win the opening game of the tournament, and his ninth-inning RBI single against Korea gave them a chance to advance to the quarterfinals before they were eliminated with a loss.
Bazzana was one of nine Guardians taking part in the tournament. Others were Logan Allen (Panama), Dylan DeLucia (Italy), Stuart Fairchild (Chinese Taipei), Matt Festa (Italy), Dayan Frias (Colombia), Bo Naylor (Canada), Ryan Prager (Israel), and Matt Wilkinson (Canada).
Now, Bazzana will return to Guardians spring training and try to make another impression in the limited time remaining. Before leaving for the WBC games in Japan, he hit a long home run against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Unless something changes over the final 13 spring training games, Brayan Rocchio is likely to be Cleveland’s Opening Day second baseman. Bazzana has a much better offensive profile, so if Rocchio gets off to a slow start, he could get called up sooner rather than later.
When he does, he will already know how to play in big games in front of large crowds, thanks to his time at the WBC.
NEXT: Stephen Vogt Opens Up About Travis Bazzana's WBC Performance
