Chris Antonetti adds further intrigue into Guardians’ Travis Bazzana timeline 

While there’s always been a ton of pressure on Travis Bazzana’s shoulders from the moment the Guardians picked him with the No. 1 pick in the 2024 MLB Draft, he’s never had to navigate a period like this in his career. 

In the time since Bazzana was drafted, six of the eight players drafted behind him have been promoted, with the latest coming in the form of Pirates 19-year-old wunderkind Konnor Griffin (who promptly signed a nine-year, $140 million extension). 

Meanwhile, Bazzana’s seeing his first extended action in Triple-A and still doesn’t seem to have a clear path to make the Guardians’ big league roster. It’ll still happen at some point this season (barring injury), but he hasn’t done anything to make it seem like a slam dunk decision. 

Guardians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti held court with the team’s beat on Monday, where he spoke about Bazzana’s potential timeline, where he said it’ll depend on traditional stats along with “underlying results and his routine.” 

It’s worth noting that those traditional stats are on a bit of an upswing, as he’s slashing .278/.374/.481 this season with one home run, five RBI and 12 walks. 

He’s played even better as of late, as he’s posted a .406 batting average (13-for-32) with a home run and seven doubles over his last eight games. 

The key for Bazzana at this point is proving that he can punish pitches left in the heart of the zone. 

While he only hit .225 in 26 games at Triple-A last season, he had a .420 on-base percentage on the back of a 24.6% walk rate. 

Although he’s only walking in 13% of hit at-bats this year, he’s making more quality contact and has cut his strikeout rate by nearly 10 percentage points (17% this year compared to 27% last season). It’s not the flashiest progress in the world, but it’s progress nonetheless. 

Travis Bazzana needs to force Guardians' hand at Triple-A

Another part of the Bazzana equation is finding a spot for him on the roster. He’s a full-time second baseman at this point in his career, so he doesn’t have the same kind of versatility as some of the other Guardians’ prospects. 

And while that promotion would make sense right now considering fellow prospect Juan Brito has hit a bit of a slump, Gabriel Arias is expected to make his return from a hamstring strain sometime in the next month. 

Arias’ promotion would likely move the red-hot Brayan Rocchio back to second base, which means Bazzana could be the odd man out. It’s hard to believe the Guardians would call him up into a temporary situation and/or one where he’s not going to get everyday at-bats. 

Bazzana’s still obviously a huge part of the Guardians’ future; now it’s just a waiting game to see how long it takes for him to become a part of the present.

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