No. 1 Draft pick Bazzana makes his lone swing of the day count in big way

GOODYEAR, Ariz. -- First he showed patience, then Travis Bazzana showed power.

The No. 1 overall pick in last summer's MLB Draft, the 22-year-old Bazzana is working out among the big leaguers in his first Spring Training. A member of the Guardians¡¯ ¡°depth camp¡± roster, he was just another prospect to get into the game in the sixth inning Tuesday in Goodyear.

Except, he wasn¡¯t just another prospect.

All eyes were on the first No. 1 overall pick in Cleveland's franchise history -- and the first Australian-born player to be selected No. 1 overall -- as he came in to play second base in place of Tyler Freeman, who started and drove in two runs batting in the six-hole.

In his first at-bat in the bottom of the sixth, Bazzana watched a called strike, then took four balls that sent him to first base on a day Guardians batters worked 11 walks in a 9-6 loss to the Brewers at Goodyear Ballark.

He came up again in the bottom of the eighth, and, again, took a called strike -- this time on a 2-0 slider. A couple foul balls ultimately gave way to two more pitches out of the zone as he picked up a second walk in as many trips to the plate.

Bazzana, the No. 10 overall prospect per MLB Pipeline, got one more crack in the bottom of the ninth.

Not content to watch anything go by this time, the lefty jumped on the first offering he got -- an 87 mph changeup from righty Alexander Cornielle. With two on and two outs, Bazzana belted a 443-foot homer to right-center field. He nearly cleared the lawn seating, which by then was empty, leaving only a security guard to track down the ball.

¡°I think I told [bench coach Craig Alberna] right before that pitch, ¡®I don¡¯t know if I¡¯ve seen Travvy swing the bat yet,¡¯¡± Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said afterward with a smile. ¡°He did. He got into that ball. He¡¯s a competitive kid.¡±

Hey, at least he was able to use those first two at-bats to track big league pitching for the first time.

¡°A lot of watching,¡± Bazzana laughed.

Cleveland's three-run ninth inning lifted an offense that had mustered just three hits on the day prior to that final frame.

¡°I¡¯m a pretty selective hitter; I¡¯m always looking for a pitch to damage,¡± Bazzana said. ¡°Obviously, I should have pulled the trigger on some of those two-strike pitches, but generally, I¡¯m looking for a zone and trying to go there -- and I¡¯m happy with how I¡¯m seeing the ball. Just trying to be ready for the pitches up-the-middle kind of thing, and I got one.¡±

The prospect spent November playing in the Premier12 international tournament in Japan and Taiwan as a member of Team Australia. By the time early January rolled around, Bazzana was already in Arizona.

With the opening of camp, he¡¯s been absorbing the whole atmosphere.

¡°It¡¯s nice being in the dugout with these guys and learning from them and come in and try and make an impact,¡± Bazzana said. ¡°I feel like the structure and everything I¡¯m getting in daily is helping me get better.¡±

There¡¯s a lot of potential, as the organization sees the five-tool player as the future at second base. For now, Bazzana is the one seeing everything there is to learn.

¡°If there¡¯s one thing I¡¯ve taken away from the time with Cleveland so far, it's the attention to detail on the defensive and baserunning side has been unbelievable,¡± he said. ¡°I¡¯ve really felt more confident, day in and day out, going out to play second base. I think I did a solid job in college, but I¡¯ve made some real jumps since I¡¯ve got to professional baseball.¡±