Travis Bazzana latest player comp should bring a smile to every Guardians’ fan’s face

Travis Bazzana has been the future of the Cleveland Guardians from the moment the Guardians made him the No. 1 pick in the 2024 MLB Draft. And for the first year and a half of his time with the Guardians, Bazzana worked on his game in the minors while being multiple rungs away from the big leagues. 

That changed last season, however, as Bazzana started his season in Double-A and eventually made his way to Triple-A before suffering a season-ending oblique injury at the end of the season. 

But that injury hasn’t dampened Bazzana’s star, as MLB Pipeline recently ranked him as the No. 17 prospect in baseball and also recently unveiled that he was the top second base prospect in baseball.

That story also included an interesting player comparison for Bazzana, as Jim Callis wrote that Bazzna’s potential production could be reminiscent of Diamondbacks All-Star Ketel Marte. 

Guardians' Travis Bazzana earns comparison to Ketel Marte 

Callis’ comparison came in a part of the story focusing on Bazzana’s ceiling, where he wrote: 

“Bazzana went No. 1 overall in a loaded Draft because he has the pure hitting ability to win batting titles, along with solid power and the patience to draw plenty of walks. He could post production along the lines of what Ketel Marte does for the D-backs.”

While Bazzana is clearly one of the best prospects in all of baseball, a comparison to Marte is a bit of a new ground given the perceived differences in their game. 

Marte was a bit of a late bloomer after starting his career with the Mariners, but he’s turned into one of the game’s best second baseman lately and has hit .288 with 64 home runs and 167 RBI across the past two seasons. 

Bazzzna, meanwhile, is known more for his contact skills more than the power that’s quickly becoming Marte’s calling card. But Callis shined a bit of a new light on Bazzana’s potential power in his story, as he included Bazzana on his list of second baseman prospects with the most power alongside Michael Arroyo, Max Anderson and Brice Matthews. 

Although Bazzana has only hit .243 across his two minor league seasons, he’s also dealt with a variety of injuries and has also been a fast-riser. He has a career .384 on-base percentage in those two minor league seasons and had a .420 on-base percentage in the 26 games he played at Triple-A last season. 

A lot of virtual ink has been spilled about the Guardians’ promising outfield prospects, but Bazzana is the cream of the crop in the system and should make his debut early in the season for the Guardians. 

Cleveland lucked into the chance to draft Bazzana with the No. 1 pick in the 2024 MLB Draft, and Callis’ story is another reminder of how close Guardians fans are to seeing him make his Progressive Field debut.