The Cleveland Guardians have approached the MLB draft with calculated caution in recent years, and the return on their investments is already starting to pay steady dividends.
The Guardians played it relatively safe with their first overall pick in 2024 and resisted the temptation to select the top high school shortstop Konnor Griffin, who was labeled early as all but guaranteed for MLB stardom. Their scouting department foresaw a need for a poised, mature middle infielder with serious pop. They found it, in Travis Bazzana, a home-run hitting second baseman out of Oregon State, via Sydney (Australia).
Bazzana, like so many other first-round picks and highly touted prospects across MLB, such as rookie shortstops Griffin, JJ. Wetherholt, Kevin McGonigle, or Bazzana’s Guardian teammate Chase DeLauter are becoming some of the games more recognized stars.
These youngsters aren’t just enjoying a cup of coffee in the show. They are starting, often hitting in the middle or top of the batting order, and ultimately having an immediately positive impact on their respective teams.
Draft 1-1, Rapid Climb to MLB
One of the many examples of this was just last night, when the Guardians visited Detroit to take on the Tigers for game two of a three-game series at Comerica Park. Starting at shortstop and hitting second for the Tigers was McGonigle. He has earned his daily slot in the lineup, with a steady .288 batting average and .803 OPS.
For the Guardians, offering protection and helping ensure that superstar Jose Ramirez gets his proper looks, was Delauter hitting third, and Bazzana hitting fifth behind power-hitting cleanup man Kyle Manzardo.
Bazzana was met with a prime opportunity to answer a second-inning two-run blast by Spencer Torkelson, who coincidentally was the 2020 1-1 pick out of Arizona State. The Guardians’ second basemen did not disappoint, and launched the Keider Montero offering well clear of the right field fence, to put the Guardians ahead, towards an eventual 4-3 victory.
The 1-1’s are becoming so entwined into the fabric of the 162 grind that it often goes without mention, how brief, but amazingly successful their climbs to the show have actually been.
