Travis Bazzana has made Australian sporting history after being drafted as the No. 1 pick in the Major League Baseball draft this year.
The big-hitting left hander from Sydney is the first Australian player to be taken in the first round of the draft, let alone the top choice.
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred announced on Sunday evening that the Cleveland Guardians chose the second baseman out of Oregon State. Bazzana is now the first second baseman to ever be selected with the No. 1 overall pick.
He set an Oregon State single-season record by scoring 84 runs and slugging .911. Bazzana also stole 16 bases and boasted a .568 on-base percentage to be named as a consensus first team All-America pick
There was little-to-no doubt that Bazzana, 21, would be recruited in the top five picks.
Travis Bazzana was tipped to be the first overall pick of the 2024 MLB Draft out of Oregon State
Baseball Australia chief executive Glenn Williams has known Bazzana since he was a child and said the infielder had massive potential.
‘He could be a generational talent,’ Williams said.
A former cricket, rugby and soccer player who came to the US to play baseball at collegiate level, Bazzana hit .407 with 28 homers and 66 RBIs this season, as he led Oregon State to a super-regional as the No. 15 national seed.
The Beavers then lost a three-game series at second-seeded Kentucky.
Bazzana was also recently named as the 2024 Pac-12 Player of the Year in May.
Baseball’s top pick this year had a slot value of $10,570,600 under the bonus pools system that began in 2012.
Cleveland had the top pick for the first time since the draft began in 1965, winning a weighted lottery in December despite having a two percent chance.
The lottery began last year as part of a collective bargaining agreement provision to discourage struggling teams from deliberately trying for a top draft pick by getting rid of veterans.
Teams were to make the first 74 picks Sunday at the Cowtown Coliseum, with the remainder of the 20 rounds on Monday and Tuesday. Cleveland also picked 36th and 48th.
Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred was booed by the roughly 2,000 fans on hand when he emerged on stage through the set’s saloon doors.
More to follow…
