Image Credit: Sunvale Media
Travis Bazzana, from Sydney’s North Shore, is poised for baseball stardom. Last year on the 14th of July, in a rodeo hall in Fort Worth, Texas, the young slugger carved out a piece of Aussie sporting history. No Australian had ever been taken in the MLB Draft’s first round. Travis went first overall, selected by the Cleveland Guardians. Up against the best of the best from around America and the world, the boy from Turramurra came out top of his class with little room for debate.
It’s been a long journey to get here. Bazzana may well become the first true baseball great to hail from these shores, but he stands on great shoulders still. When his name was read, it was a moment that encapsulated the growing pride and optimism within this oft forgotten corner of our nation’s sporting landscape. Baseball in this country plays second fiddle to it’s older bat and ball cousin. It always has been, and always will be this way. No matter. For the small yet passionate Aussie following of America’s pastime, overachievement is becoming the norm.
Our conquering draft night hero finished his career at Oregon State as a strong contender for the best college player in the country. He’s a second baseman by trade, throwing with his right arm but hitting from the left side. He joined the Beavers in 2022, a powerhouse baseball program that produced fellow number one draft pick Adley Rutschman, and made a quick impression hitting .306 as a freshman. In his sophomore year Travis broke the school’s single season stolen base record with 36, and raised his batting average to .374. Major League scouts started to really sit up and take notice, asking who is this kid from down under who runs the bases so ferociously and knows the strike zone like the back of his hand? Bazzana had garnered a good amount of hype going into his junior year, but he exceeded it and then some. In the 2024 Pac-12 Conference season, the Aussie led the way in batting average, on-base, slugging, home runs, walks, and runs.
If I’m starting to lose you with the lingo, let me make this clear. He led his conference in every statistic that matters to a hitter.
The power went to another level; he smashed 26 home runs to claim another single season record for Oregon State. Ranked on OPS (on-base plus slugging), a popular metric for assessing a hitters’ all round value, Bazzana came in second across all of Division 1 baseball. In the field he plays a quality second base, looking smooth and assured, and he’s shown promise as an outfielder as well. His range and strong throwing arm are valuable in both positions. With all that plus the speed threat you’re looking at a total package that Major League GMs dream about. He’s of a rare breed; they call them ‘5-tool players’. Australia has produced ballplayers of MLB quality before, Dave Nilsson and Liam Hendriks being perhaps the most notable, but this is a different equation altogether. Bazzana has the skillset of a potential superstar.
The 22 year old still has a few steps to go before taking the field for Cleveland. First comes the due diligence of working his way up the Guardian’s Minor League affiliate ladder, where he was recently promoted from High A to join up with the Akron RubberDucks in Double A, just a couple notches below the Majors. There’s no guarantees in this game, but at this stage he does appear to have what it takes to thrive at the top level.
One thing that really strikes you about Bazzana is his maturity as a competitor. It’s a big part of what made him so sought after in the draft. Ryan Rowland-Smith, who helped mentor his fellow Sydney native, spotted it right from the get go. A former pitcher with Seattle, turned broadcaster for the Mariners and MLB Network, Ryan also founded NxtGen Baseball to offer camps for young talent in Australia, helping them to get across to the States where they can showcase their skills. On a 2016 trip he met then 12 year-old Travis for the first time, and straight away saw something different in him.
“Usually, you have a parent, mum or dad and a teenager, and you’re like, ‘All right, listen, this is how the college system works, once you get into year one, year two …’ But he already knew all the answers… Every college prospect, who they were, he knew this hitting coach, he knew this hitting philosophy. I was like, ‘Oh, man. OK. He knows more than I do.”
Bazzana has had clarity of purpose from the beginning. It’s what’s brought him this far. Playing baseball in the big leagues is far from the mind of the average sports mad kid growing up in Australia, but for Travis there was never any other goal. “I don’t remember ever putting a different answer for what’s your dream job, or what do you want to do in the future, other than Major League baseball player”, he told the Cleveland Baseball Insider.
He played a wide range of sports growing up and away from the diamond Travis also excelled at cricket, playing at the senior representative level as a teen and even captaining his Turramurra High School team to their first ever state championship, but there were no dreams of wearing the baggy green. “I loved all those sports growing up, but for some reason I just kind of took the identity of a baseball player”.
At Oregon State he majored in psychology. “Being able to find an edge on the mental side, or at least learn more about people and relationships, is gonna help me throughout this journey”, he said in an interview with the panel of Fox Sports’ The Back Page. When asked if he would call himself a baseball nerd, he responded “I’d say I’m a human performance nerd”.
Baseball isn’t just a passion for Bazzana, it’s a lifelong vocation. It’s his purpose. He approaches the game with consummate professionalism and always has done, whether as a kid cutting his teeth with the Kuringai Steelers, or as a rising star in the states. It’s served him very well, this attitude, and will surely continue to do so as he enters the big leagues under great expectations. When he gets there he’ll be carrying the hopes of a proud community. One that has waited generations to see their game get the acknowledgement it deserves in this country.
When Australia stunned South Korea 8-7 at the 2023 World Baseball Classic, the general public’s response was confusion. ‘There’s a World Cup for baseball?’, they asked. ‘And we’re in it?’
Indeed there is, and indeed we are. Not only that. Our boys have become an unlikely force in the international baseball scene under the stewardship of the legendary Dave Nilsson. Unheralded, overmatched, and missing their lone star in Hendriks, Team Australia went all the way to the quarterfinals in 2023 (their maiden appearance in the knockout stages) where they put up a valiant performance in defeat against Cuba.
That first night at the Tokyo Dome was a special one. Facing a strong Team Korea in their opening group stage game, no one gave the Aussies a chance. Our opponents saw themselves as dark horses to go all the way, boasting MLB stars throughout their roster including Ha-seong Kim, Jung-hoo Lee, and American-born Tommy Edman; last year’s NLCS MVP. Team Australia comprised for the most part standouts from the semi pro Australian Baseball League, with some Minor Leaguers thrown in the mix.
Don’t discount the ABL though. It’s grown steadily with domestic talent improving year on year. The standard nowadays is high enough that more and more top prospects from overseas are adopting it as a winter league, following the lead of MLB’s Rookie of the Year and MVP, Ronald Acuna, who spent a season with the Melbourne Aces in 2016.
The game was thrilling all the way through. The Aussies held the unlikely 2-0 lead early but in the 5th the favourites struck back. Veteran catcher Euiji Yang sent one into the outfield stands scoring 3 runs and retaking the lead. In the 6th another deep shot from the Koreans came within inches of clearing the fence, but got far enough to bring a runner in from second and extend the lead to 4-2. After a competitive start from the underdogs, things now looked more like business as usual.
Cue an absolute bomb from Australia’s Robbie Glendenning. With runners at second and third in the top of the 7th, he unleashed on a middle-middle breaking ball; a picture perfect 3 run blast that sounded simply magnificent off the bat. 5-4. One scoreboard flipping homer for Korea. One right back at you from the green and gold.
Robbie wasn’t done making game changing plays. In the bottom of that same inning Korea’s pinch hitter, Beak-ho Kang, knocked one off the outfield wall and got himself safely to second base… or so he thought. As he turned to his dugout for the emphatic fist pump celebration, for just a fleeting moment his foot lifted off the bag. Glendenning had the ball in his glove and was watching him like a hawk. The quick tag put Kang out after video review. A brutal mental error, smartly punished by the Aussie infielder.
Robbie Perkins blew it open with another 3 run homer to make the score 8-4, but the Koreans weren’t finished yet, bringing it back to 8-7 in the bottom of a marathon 8th inning that lasted nearly 40 minutes. Nerves were shredding as they went to the 9th with a slender lead to protect. It was Perkins again who made the final out of a historic win, ending it with a bullet throw from behind the plate to nab the speedy Edman as he tried to steal second. Australia’s catcher was fired up, veins popping and spit flying as he celebrated a stunning upset. I don’t think any Aussie baseball fan could quite believe what they’d just seen. Manager Dave Nilsson wasn’t surprised though.
Nilsson was a pioneer. Signed as an amateur free agent in 1987, before his 18th birthday and in a time where there was no modern precedent for Aussies succeeding in the American game, he became a stalwart for the Milwaukee Brewers. From ‘92 to ‘99 he played over 800 games and hit 105 home runs, starting out as a catcher and later splitting time between first base and the outfield. Nilsson made history as the first Aussie to appear in the MLB All Star game in 1999, but just a year later, aged 29, his Major League career ended. No doubt there would have been suitors for him in free agency, but he chose instead to move across the Pacific and join Japan’s Chunichi Dragons, giving up millions in the process. Why, you ask? Because by rule an MLB contract would’ve excluded him from playing for Australia in the Sydney Olympic Games, and for Nilsson that was not an option.
The Queenslander has long been an advocate for the importance of international competition, and the growth of the game around the globe. He was a star in the Olympics, deadset on being there to represent Australia when few top level players had interest in the Summer Games. He averaged a tournament best .565 in Sydney, and led the team to historic Silver four years later in Athens. Nilsson has strived invariably to do good by baseball in his home country. As he put it, “One thing about Australia is you have to have some success in Australia to be recognised”.
Now as manager of the national team as well as his hometown Brisbane Bullets in the ABL, he’s a central figure in shaping the future of Aussie baseball. Surely no one would have been happier than him to see the explosion of support for the WBC in 2023. If like most Australians, you’ve never watched a baseball game before, do yourself a favour and check out the highlights of Japan vs USA in the final. What a profile raiser it was. A heart pumping high stakes classic between the tournament’s two elite sides. Like something out of a movie script, it all came down to a mano a mano between Trout and Ohtani; teammates, friends, and the two best players on the planet.
Bazzana didn’t play in 2023, busy with his sophomore college season, but he joined up with the national team in Tokyo last year for the Premier12 tournament. He averaged a hit per game over 5 matches, a decent performance, though the Aussies couldn’t repeat their heroics and escape a tough group. He’s impressed so far this year for Akron. In 33 appearances his batting average sits at .252 with an OPS just under .800, indicative of a good mix of power and consistency. Not quite the barnstorming form of his final college season, but a solid base to build on as he adjusts to the professional game. His defence and baserunning continue to draw plaudits.
When he inevitably adds his name to the list of Aussie Major Leaguers he’ll be joining a small club, though bigger than many might expect. 38 Australians have made at least one appearance. Most were journeymen with short MLB stays, but there have been standouts. Joe Quinn was the first, playing for 17 years in the late 1800s and becoming a renowned defensive infielder in the leagues early decades. Raised just outside of Brisbane, his family moved to Iowa when he was a young teen. Over the first 110 years of MLB history he was a one of one anomaly. Then in the 90s, Dave Nilsson and Craig Shipley picked up the torch. The first two Aussies to enter the league since Quinn both followed in his footsteps with long and successful careers, and their influence can hardly be overstated.
Their legacy; in the 2000s Aussie representation at baseball’s pinnacle stopped being a novelty and became an expectation. Grant Balfour and Peter Moylan were a constant presence in those days, their high level relief pitching continuing into the early 2010s. In recent years another reliever, Liam Hendriks, has built his case as the outright GOAT of Aussie baseball.
The 36 year old made his return this year, signing for Boston after missing the 2024 season to undergo major elbow surgery. With the Oakland A’s and Chicago White Sox, Hendriks was one of the best closers going; a ferocious, flame throwing presence on the mound. Twice he won the award for the American League Reliever of the Year, back to back in ‘20 and ‘21. He became the third Aussie All Star after Nilsson and Balfour, and bettered them both with three appearances, as well as two selections in the All-MLB First Team. Hendriks is adored by baseball followers of every persuasion. His loveable nature set in contrast with the burning intensity he pitches with have made him a consistent fan favourite.
In January of 2023 hearts dropped at the news that he’d been diagnosed with non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, but the absolute champion beat it within 4 months, cancer free by April and back on a Major League mound by May. “Cancer struck out”, he announced on social media. There’s never been less debate over who would win Comeback Player of the Year.
Hendriks had opportunities in the AFL, but like Bazzana he had his heart set on playing professional baseball. With what he’s achieved and the ambassador that he’s become, it’s a genuine shame that the Perth native hasn’t been elevated to a household name in Aussie sport. It’s understandable though. Underappreciation is par for the course when you pitch out of the bullpen. Even star closers like Liam operate in a substantially smaller sphere of influence than that of a starting pitcher or every day position player. Unless your name is Mariano Riviera, you don’t really get to be a reliever and a superstar at the same time.
This is what makes Bazzana’s potential so exciting and unprecedented. So far as a nation we’ve produced players who are fitted to their role, building careers as cogs in the machine that is an MLB squad. Shipley was a defense-and-contact focused infielder. Nilsson, a strong leader and jack of all trades, but not quite a master of any. Balfour, Moylan, and Hendriks reside in that inbetween space where most relievers live. Good enough stuff to get batters out in the Major Leagues, but short of the full picture; the stamina and deep arsenal needed to maintain a spot in the starting rotation.
In 2014 Dave Nilsson was asked about the impact of Australia being represented almost exclusively by pitchers. “You need a position player that can engage the young kids on the different aspects of the game”, he said. “So hopefully, on the horizon, there’s going to be one.”
Well Dave, here he is.
Bazzana has every quality you look for in a prime-time player. Speed, power, contact, fielding, throwing. All 5 tools in one man. His profile is that of a headline maker. A ticket seller. The kind of player that wins MVPs and leads teams to championships, and maybe, just maybe, the kind of player that finally moves the needle for baseball in Australia. No one needs to tell him all that though. He sees himself in the bigger picture. It likely won’t be much longer before Travis debuts with the Guardians, and when he does he’ll be sharing the infield with one of MLB’s biggest superstars, Jose Ramirez. The third baseman is as brilliant in the field as he is dominant in the batters box. When Cleveland fans watched Bazzana climb that stage, shake the hand of Commissioner Rob Manfred, and don the red ‘C’ cap for the first time, they said in unison, ‘we’ve got another one’.
-Will Newby