Guardians prospect considered one of Spring Breakout's best

MLB's Spring Breakout Games are about to be underway, giving fans everywhere a glimpse of the future stars of Major League Baseball. Each team will field a roster of their top prospects, with some being viewed more highly than others. One Cleveland Guardians prospect just so happened to be named the recipient of a prestigious honor.

Guardians second base prospect Travis Bazzana was named the "Best Hitter" participating in the upcoming Spring Breakout contests by MLB.com's Jim Callis. The first overall selection of the 2024 MLB June Amateur Draft received this distinction over every other prospect set to take the field later this week.

Callis would cite his 2023 batting title in the Cape Cod league and his Oregon State-record 28 home runs before getting into why Bazzana is considered Spring Breakout's best hitter. "He has no obvious weakness at the plate, employing a compact left-handed stroke with plenty of bat speed, making smart swing decisions and producing a lot of hard contact.", writes Callis, praising Bazzana's offensive profile.

If reading Callis's description of Bazzana sounds familiar, it is because that is the type of hitter the Guardians prefer. Cleveland has shown a tendency to favor those capable of making quality contact with a strong sense of the strike zone whose home run power may be a work in progress. It seems more feasible for someone that lacks power to add it to their profile rather than one lacking contact and strike zone awareness but possessing power to become a more disciplined hitter.

It's been a rough spring training for Bazzana in Arizona, as he has just two hits in 12 at-bats, with four strikeouts and three walks. The one encouraging aspect of Bazzana's performance is that both of his hits have gone for extra bases, recording a double and a home run, and it is that particular aspect of his game that made it a little bit easier to part ways with Andres Gimenez this past offseason. Bazzana should be able to record extra-base hits with regularity once he breaks into the majors, and that could make a world of difference to how the Guardians' offense performs moving forward.