Guardians top prospect Travis Bazzana reportedly set to represent Australia at WBC 

On Monday, Guardians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti spoke to the media, where he talked about a variety of different topics in relation to Cleveland’s offseason pursuits. One of those topics, according to Cleveland.com’s Paul Hoynes, was top prospect Travis Bazzana, who missed the end of last season with an oblique injury. 

But, according to Antonetti, Bazzana is healthy and working out in his home country of Australia, who he’ll represent in next spring’s World Baseball Classic. 

That update is great news for a variety of reasons, as it not only confirms that Bazzana should be healthy for spring training (barring anything unforeseen happening), but it also means that we’ll finally get a chance to see him play against some of the bigger names in baseball ahead of him (hopefully) making his MLB debut for the Guardians in 2026. 

Travis Bazzana would be an electric addition to the World Baseball Classic 

While Bazzana’s 2025 season ended with him on the injured list, he still took some big steps that got him closer to making his MLB debut. After starting the season at Double-A, Bazzana missed nearly two weeks due to an oblique strain. He ended up making his return in July and was called up to Triple-A before suffering a right flank strain that ended up being season ending. 

In total, the 23-year-old slashed .245/.389/.424 with nine home runs and 39 RBI in 89 games. Although he hit just .225 in 26 games at Triple-A, he had an on-base percentage of .420, which showcases just how good of an understanding he has of the strike zone.

MLB Pipeline still has him ranked as the Guardians’ No. 1 prospect, and recently had him as the No. 17 prospect in all of baseball in their recent re-rank of all the prospects in baseball. 

And now he’ll get a chance to prove himself at the World Baseball Classic, which is quickly becoming one of the main tentpole events across baseball. 

At the 2023 iteration of the tournament, Team Australia came in second in Pool B and advanced to the knockout round where they eventually lost to Cuba despite not having bonafide major leaguers on their roster. Along with having Bazzana on their roster in 2026, Team Australia will also have White Sox infielder Curtis Mead and Boston reliever Liam Hendriks. 

Bazzana made his Australian National Team debut last year in the Premier12 tournament, where he went 5-for-19 with an RBI and run scored across five games in the tournament. 

Although the World Baseball Classic being during spring training can lead to some handwringing from organizational higher-ups throughout baseball, having him play in the WBC will provide him with the kind of invaluable experience that could help him hit the ground running. 

That experience may not result in him breaking camp with the Guardians, but it gives even more credence to the thinking we’ll see him make his MLB debut at some point in 2026.