The Cleveland Guardians' top minor-league prospect is now one level away from Major League Baseball.
On Sunday, the Guardians announced in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, that second baseman Travis Bazzana has been promoted from the Akron RubberDucks, the organization's Double-A affiliate, to the Columbus Clippers, its Triple-A affiliate.
The move comes just under 13 months after the club took Bazzana No. 1 overall in last year's edition of the MLB Draft.
Save for a rehab assignment in the Arizona Complex League, Bazzana has spent the entire 2025 season with the RubberDucks, appearing in 51 games. In those contests, Bazzana has put together a .256/.364/.426 slash line with five home runs, 23 RBIs and 43 runs scored. He has also earned a .333 BABIP (batting average on balls in play).
Last season, Bazzana reported straight to the Lake County Captains, the Guardians' High-A affiliate, after being drafted and played in 27 games at that level. He hit .238 with three home runs, 12 RBIs, 20 runs scored and a .765 OPS.
Bazzana previously plied his trade in the collegiate ranks with Oregon State, where he was named the Pac-12 Player of the Year in 2024. That season, he led the conference in home runs, suns scored, walks, batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage, in addition to breaking the Beavers' single-season record for round-trippers.
The Guardians find themselves in the thick of the playoff hunt as the second-best team in the AL Central, sitting six games back of the division-leading Detroit Tigers. Cleveland are also just 0.5 games behind the American League's third wild card spot, which is currently occupied by the New York Yankees.
It remains to be seen how much Bazzana will contribute to the Guardians' playoff push, but if he excels in Triple-A over the next few weeks, it could warrant a September call-up to the big leagues.