Top pick Bazzana hits slam for first HR as pro
EASTLAKE, Ohio — Travis Bazzana, the top pick in this month’s amateur draft, hit a grand slam for his first professional home run Wednesday night in High-A Lake County’s 17-5 rout of Beloit in the Midwest League.
The 21-year-old Australian, selected by the Cleveland Guardians on July 14, homered on a drive to right-center in the fifth inning against Caleb Wurster, a 25-year-old left-hander on the Miami Marlins farm team.
“I put a good swing on it, but I honestly didn’t know if it would go,” Bazzana told The News-Herald after the game. “I’m just getting used to the ballpark. But a little bit toward the end of my at-bat, I thought it had a chance but I wasn’t 100 percent sure.”
Batting leadoff, Bazzana also singled, walked twice and scored three runs in the completion of a game suspended because of wet grounds Tuesday night with the score 0-0 and no outs in the top of the second. He did not play in Wednesday’s scheduled game.
Bazzana hit an RBI grounder Friday in his professional debut against Great Lakes. He went 2-for-4 with a double Sunday.
Bazzana is hitting .364 with a home run, five RBI, five runs and a stolen base in three games.
He signed for $8.95 million July 19 after playing at Oregon State, where he had 28 home runs in 60 games this past season, the most by a Pac-12 player in a quarter-century, while slashing .407/.568/.911.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
