Travis Bazzana, the No. 1 pick in the 2024 MLB Draft, will miss at least the next two months with a right internal oblique strain.
The Cleveland Guardians announced the injury on Tuesday. Bazzana had been playing with Double-A Akron in the Eastern League and suffered the injury May 14 in a game against the Chesapeake Baysox. The 22-year-old will return to Arizona to rehab at the team’s minor-league facility, the team said.
In 33 games for Akron so far this season, he was hitting .252/.362/.433 with four home runs and eight stolen bases. Bazzana hit .238/.369/.396 in 27 games at the High-A level in his pro debut last season.
An update on Travis Bazzana.#GuardsBall pic.twitter.com/XYU4vq2T34
— GuardsInsider (@GuardsInsider) May 20, 2025
Bazzana is the first native of Australia to go No. 1 in the draft.
The left-handed hitting second baseman played collegiately at Oregon State, where he hit .360/.497/.660 in three seasons. He came into this season as the Guardians’ No. 1 prospect and the No. 25 prospect in baseball, according to The Athletic’s Keith Law.
“He’s a very polished WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) player, offering little in the way of physical projection but also earning plaudits everywhere for his acumen for the game, leading evaluators to believe he will be able to make adjustments as he faces better pitching,” Law wrote back in January. “He has an odd start to his swing with the bat back behind his rear shoulder and pointing down, but he’s ready when it matters and has a short path to the ball once his hands get started.”
Given his polish at the plate and the Guardians’ offseason trade of incumbent second baseman Andrés Giménez, Bazzana could have made his major-league debut this season. An eight-to-10 week absence doesn’t eliminate that possibility but makes it much less likely, especially since Bazzana has yet to play a game at the Triple-A level.
(Photo: Diamond Images / Getty Images)