Travis Bazzana’s defensive disaster in Guardians' Game 3 loss could force Stephen Vogt to make crucial change

This year has largely been a success for Guardians second baseman Travis Bazzana. He finished the year with an OPS+ that was 10% better than league average, earned an All-Star nod and showed off a strong clutch gene. 

But all of that came around the big red flag of his defense — or lack thereof. 

Although Bazzana didn’t make his big league debut until the end of April, he finished the year with seven errors at second base. Even if he ended up finishing the year being worth +1 Outs Above Average, most of the year was defined by his lackluster defense. 

And that came to the forefront on Saturday when he committed a first inning error and should have been tagged for another one in the fifth inning on a ground ball from Richie Palacios. 

While neither of those misplays led to the Rays scoring runs in their 7-3 win over the Guardians, this is the time of year where those kinds of mistakes can be the difference between playing deeper into October or going home. Luckily for manager Stephen Vogt, he has an obvious Bazzana replacement on his bench in the form of Angel Genao. 

Replacing Bazzana on the roster may not be the kind of decision Vogt wants to make at this juncture in the season, but it’s the one he may have to make. 

Travis Bazzana’s defense could cost the Guardians a win this postseason

To be fair to Vogt, it seems like he’s already recognized Bazzana’s defensive limitations given he’s already Genao as a late-game substitute five times at second base this postseason (he also did the same thing five times in the final week of the season).

But it may be time for something a bit more drastic. Bazzana may be a long-term staple on the Guardians’ roster (we think), but he’s entered Saturday's game with a .148 batting average in the postseason. He showed us something in the eighth inning with a solo home run off Kevin Kelly, but his defense has still been a problematic development.

Genao may have only recorded two at-bats this postseason, but it would be hard for him to be worse than Bazzana at this point. 

Even if Vogt decides to stick with Bazzana as the Guardians’ starting second baseman for the rest of the postseason, his defensive struggles could re-introduce the conversations from earlier this summer about potentially moving him to the outfield. And while that may sound great in theory, Bazzana would be one of the shortest outfielders in baseball 5-foot-11) and has an arm that ranks in the 11th percentile. 

Steven Kwan may be a smaller outfielder, but he has one of the best arms in all of baseball. That wouldn’t be the case with Bazzana.

But that's a conversation for next season. For now, the main conversation around Bazzana is whether he'll be able to do enough in the field to justify keeping his bat in the lineup. Saturday's game showed the best of both of those worlds.

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