First, a bit of trivia, Travis Bazzana is from Australia. That’s not the trivia. Nope! It gets better! In Australia, you might be aware of this, but everything is done by boomerang. Their GrubHub, their mail, their car valets, everything. You attach a boomerang to the item and send it away from you, then eventually it comes back, depending on the item’s size. For unstints, you order a pizza. The pizzeria makes the pizzeria, then throws it out its front door and it flies to where it’s going, the recipient (you, the orderer) takes the pizza, and lets the box fly back to the pizzeria like a boomerang. This goes for all items. So, at zoos, the zookeeper throws a banana at the apes, and the ape takes out the gooey middle and the peel flies back to the zookeeper. You might be wondering, what does this have to do with Bazzana? Well, the sound Australians call it when a banana peel is whizzing back at the zookeeper like a boomerang? Bazzana. Learn something new every day! So, I was close to not writing up Travis Bazzana, because how many rookies can the Guards start the year with, and I already wrote up my Chase DeLauter fantasy, who I do think is called up first (already was on the postseason roster). Bazzana can be special though, and I shouldn’t let the injury-prone DeLauter cloud my Bazzana judgment. So, what can we expect from Travis Bazzana for 2026 fantasy baseball?
Here’s what Itch said last year, “Bazzana has gotten stronger throughout his career in college ball and added significant impact to his plus-contact profile, homering 28 times in his junior season after hitting 11 as a sophomore and six as a freshman. It’s a real mark of his hitting prowess and upside that he went first overall as a college second baseman. As far as I can recall (which ain’t far, tbf), he’s the first number one overall pick of that type, and a cursory search revealed nothing to disagree with that. For a human-sized (6′ 199 lbs) lefty learning his way through the game, Cleveland seems like the perfect landing spot. His timeline looks wrong to me at a glance here (ETA: 2026), but then I try to think Cleveland thoughts, and I see a river of fire that suggests anything sooner than 2026 would be optimistic, and rivers of fire rarely portend optimism among the people. Speaking of fire, anyone know an arson who lives near Grey?” C’mon, man! Geez!
Let’s take a look at some highlights on Travis Bazzana, shall we? Yes, shall!
MR TRAVIS BAZZANA pic.twitter.com/WzdxJk2XuR
— Columbus Clippers (@CLBClippers) September 7, 2025
It’s deep and I don’t think it’s playable! Let’s do another:
2024 No. 1 overall pick Travis Bazzana is one step away from the bigs ?
He’s getting the call to Triple-A just over a year after being drafted ? pic.twitter.com/mcMajV0vzk
— MLB (@MLB) August 11, 2025
That’s Dong City. Population: Bazzana! (If you’re a zookeeper, you likely just ducked.)
Travis Bazzana saw only 26 games of Triple-A, where he went 4/2/.225; 24.2 BB% and 26.7 K%. But wait, it gets more meh! Double-A wasn’t much better. Hitting a baseball with a non-boomerang bat maybe isn’t so easy, Bazzana? In Double-A, he went 5/9/.256 with a 24.1 K% and 12.7 BB%. Those latter two numbers at both stops aren’t bad. 24.2 BB% turns heads, especially when it comes to real baseball. If you’re wondering, he had a .333 BABIP with that .256 average, so, yeah, not very unlucky, huh?
I reached out to multiple people and they all assure me Bazzana is MLB-ready. It’s up to the Guards. Guess it’s numbers aside for Bazzana and it’s more about the motion in the ocean. If I sound down on Bazzana, it’s because I am for this year. Here’s a sneak peek into my thought process for why I’m even doing this post. A rookie outlook post means a guy will be ranked in my top 500. Do I think Travis Bazzana returns top 500 value? Unlikely, but if there’s a 5% chance he impresses everyone with a huge spring? Then he’s gonna be worth a lot more than a top 500 pick. He’ll zoom up the draft ranks, and a huge spring could have him drafted inside the top 100. As weak as 2nd base is, he could be a top five 2nd baseman this year. In other words, he’s worth the flyer. Realistically, he needs a half season in Triple-A, at least, and then, at that point, there needs to be an opening for him in the Guards’ lineup and you’re looking at a guy who might not get 200 ABs in 2026. But. Dot dot dot. Upside! For 2026 fantasy baseball, I’ll give Travis Bazzana projections of 36/12/38/.239/16 in 333 ABs with a chance for a lot more and less.
