CLEVELAND — It didn't fully sink in for Travis Bazzana until Friday afternoon, when he stepped onto the field in Cleveland for the first time and shook hands with Jose Ramirez and several others.
The Guardians selected Bazzana with the No. 1 overall pick in the MLB Draft. It was the first time in franchise history Cleveland has had the top draft choice, which president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti called a "extraordinary opportunity" for the organization.
Bazzana, of course, knew he'd be drafted at or near the top, but it wasn't official until about 20 minutes before the Guardians were on the clock, when Antonetti called to welcome him to the organization.
The next few days were a whirlwind for Bazzana, who is originally from Australia. Family needed to make the roughly 20-hour journey. He had media obligations as the No. 1 overall draft selection.
But it didn't fully sink in, the gravity of it all, until he visited Progressive Field before the Guardians game against the San Diego Padres. As the Guardians were taking batting practice, Bazzana walked onto the field, even before he had been presented with his jersey.
It was there that it all came into greater focus. And it is that field that represents his next goal, as the biggest question is when Bazzana will join the major league club as part of the roster, and not just as a recent draft choice.
"I think standing on the field, watching Andres [Gimenez], Brayan [Rocchio], Daniel [Schneemann], Jose take ground balls and being there and talking to the major league staff, it was definitely a set-in moment," Bazzana said Friday. "Like, you watch these people on TV for years, you watch Jose Ramirez highlights over and over since 2017, and then you get out there and you get to say, 'What's up?' to him. I think that's when it sinks in a little bit."
Bazzana, who starred at Oregon State, will instantly become the Guardians' No. 1-ranked prospect, and he'll likely be slotted into the top-20 (or higher) in all of baseball, once some of the more official rankings are updated.
It was announced Friday that Bazzana will start his minor league career with High-A Lake County, skipping some of the lower levels. It might not be long before he's in Akron with the RubberDucks.
And because Bazzana, 21, is a collegiate hitter with a polished approach to the plate, it stands to reason he could accelerate through the Guardians minor league system quicker than normal, assuming he plays well and remains healthy.
It isn't out of the question that at some point late next year, or early in 2026, Bazzana could return to Progressive Field as a teammate of Ramirez and others, instead of only a visitor.
No. 1 overall pick Travis Bazzana wants to make baseball bigger in Australia with the Guardians
Considering Bazzana's baseball journey starting line was in Australia, his path to being the No. 1 overall draft pick almost couldn't have included mileage.
As a kid, Bazzana would watch whatever baseball he could, but American baseball being shown in Australia isn't always the most regimented programming. It doesn't help that many major league games air at 5 a.m. He tried to be a fan of one team but ended up jumping around, instead choosing to follow certain stars in the game, with Ramirez eventually being one of them.
Bazzana even joked it'll be nice to only wear one jersey for a change after he spent much of his childhood bouncing around as a fan.
Bazzana played a number of sports as a kid, but baseball was his passion. He eventually became known as "the baseball kid" among his friends.
One goal of his is be a trailblazer for kids in Australia to follow his lead into the game of baseball.
"I started to realize I think 12 to 18 months ago what kind of opportunity I had to take that torch and be the first to kind of do this out of college," Bazzana said. "We've had a couple of great major leaguers, but this is a new path, and the college game brings a lot of attention. And we're in a day and age where the next kid back home can watch me when I have a good night at the plate or make a cool play on defense.
"They've been able to see my journey at Oregon State, and I realize this [draft selection] is a stepping stone and it's an opportunity where I can really grow the way Australians look at baseball."
Making the trip between Oregon State and Australia has left Bazzana with plenty of travel experience, perhaps too much, in fact.
"It's not a pretty flight," Bazzana said, laughing. "Usually you'd hear from Sydney airport to a major West Coast airport, like LAX or San Francisco, which is a 14-hour fight approximately. … It ends up being approximately 20 hours of travel time, and a lot of people struggle to sleep on flights, so you might be a little angry or in a bad place after that 20 hours."
No. 1 draft pick Travis Bazzana signs with Guardians for $8.95 million
Bazzana and the Guardians reportedly agreed to terms on a $8.95 million signing bonus, or around $1.6 million under slot value. It's actually less than the signing bonus of No. 2 overall pick Chase Burns, who agreed to a deal with the Cincinnati Reds for $9.25 million. Still, Bazzana's deal is the fourth-highest bonus in draft history.
Bazzana outlined that it was clear no player was getting the slot value of the No. 1 pick, and as he researched teams that might draft him, playing in Cleveland was something he wanted to do, which made the negotiations a bit easier.
"By the end of the season I had this idea that the culture at the big league level, the young players, the intelligence of the organization and then the consistency of winning over the past 10 years put the Guards in such a powerful spot for me in terms of where I wanted to be," Bazzana said. "I came out of [meetings with the Guardians] with a true gut feeling that Cleveland is where I wanted to be, and it was the organization that I was going to develop into the player and person that I want to be."
Bazzana could play his first game with Lake County within the next week or so. When he does, another path begins, this one right back to where he spent Friday afternoon.
Ryan Lewis can be reached at rlewis1@gannett.com. Read more about the Guardians at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/cleveland-guardians. Follow him on Threads at @ByRyanLewis.
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