As MLB draft nears, Bazzana ‘excited for a new challenge’

Travis Bazzana could make a signing bonus in excess of the $8.1 million former Oregon State catcher Adley Rutschman made with Baltimore as the No. 1 pick in the 2019 draft (courtesy OSU sports communications)

On July 14, the world will change for Travis Bazzana.

That is the first day of the Major League Baseball draft, and the former Oregon State second baseman is all but assured of being selected among the first four picks — perhaps No. 1 by the Cleveland Guardians.

It has been almost a month since Oregon State was eliminated by Kentucky in the Super Regional at Lexington, ending the Beavers’ 2024 season and Bazzana’s college career.

“I am still processing the fact that I won’t play at Oregon State anymore,” the native Australian told me Saturday in a phone interview from Kent, Wash., where he is living and training in preparation for the draft. “I loved the experience, but I am excited for a new challenge.

“Coming over to the States was a challenge. Each year of college has been a new challenge. Now it is like a new steppingstone to where I want to take this. I am excited to get into it and see how I can perform and continue to get better at baseball.”

Immediately after the season ended, Bazzana took a week away from baseball. He spent a couple of days vacationing in Montana with his parents, Gary and Jenny Bazzana. He flew to Omaha for the Golden Spikes Award banquet during the College World Series. Travis was one of three finalists for the award honoring the nation’s top college player; it went to Georgia slugger Charlie Condon.

After that, Bazzana flew to Seattle, got an apartment and began a daily commute to Driveline Baseball training facility in Kent.

“It is going well,” Bazzana says. “It has been about getting back with the wood bat in my hands, trying to prepare myself for pro ball and get my body in shape for a couple of months more of baseball this summer.”

For the previous two summers, Bazzana spent time at Driveline after the college (and Cape Cod League) seasons. This summer, he has been working there with hitting coaches Andrew Aydt and Tanner Stokey.

“They help me a bunch,” he says. “I am doing my hitting, weightlifting and sprinting there — all my athletic stuff.”

The 6-foot Bazzana, who turns 22 on Aug. 28, says he weighs about 195, down a little from the poundage he carried into the 2024 season.

“I am trying to push back up to almost 200, but my body feels good,” he says. “I’m enjoying training.”

When he is not at the Driveline facility, Bazzana finds time for other pursuits.

“Sometimes I will go out golfing,” he says. “I am cooking a lot of food, living by myself up here. Relaxing in a good way.”

Bazzana is the player who goes No. 1 to Cleveland in the mock drafts posted online in recent days by MLB Pipeline and USA Today. The Athletic and Just Baseball project him going No. 2 to Cincinnati. Pitchers List, Bleacher Report and CBS Sports predict he will go No. 4 to Oakland.

Other players expected to go in the top four in the draft are Georgia outfielder/third baseman Condon, Florida first baseman/pitcher Jac Caglianone and West Virginia middle infielder JJ Wetherholt.

Wherever Bazzana lands — and the experts think he will fall no further than No. 4 — he will make a good pile of dough. Cleveland has a record $10.57 million bonus slotted for the first pick. Cincinnati ($9.785 million), No. 3 Colorado ($9.07 million) and Oakland ($8.37 million) follow. For perspective, Oregon State catcher Adley Rutschman reaped a then-record $8.1 million signing bonus with Baltimore as the No. 1 pick in 2019.

That doesn’t mean Bazzana is guaranteed to make full slot money. The Guardians are not expected to pay the full slot to whoever they choose. They have about $18.3 million to spend in the full draft and must use it to sign lower selections as well.

One report said that Condon won’t want to come down much, if at all, from Cleveland’s slot money at No. 1. The same report said Bazzana and his agent, Chase Brewer of Excel Sports Management, might be willing to accept $8.5 to $8.75 million, which could make the Guardians more inclined to draft him.

Bazzana says he has talked with officials from all the teams that draft at the top.

“But it’s just talking,” he says. “They are not going to give away who they are going to take. There is a negotiation factor in it. They don’t want you to know that you are their guy, because frankly, they want to save money. I don’t know where I am going to end up. We’ll see.”

If he were to go to Cleveland, he would be joining the organization featuring former Oregon State outfielder Steven Kwan, recently named a starter in the All-Star Game.

“I know Kwannie,” Bazzana says. “He is awesome. I really respect and appreciate Kwannie. I have been in touch with him for a long time.”

Bazzana says he won’t be disappointed if he doesn’t go No. 1.

“There are a lot of factors that go into that,” he says. “Cleveland might want someone else. They might want to cut a deal and save some money for a later pick. And there might be opportunities later that are better for them.

“A lot of variables go into it. I don’t want to set my expectations and get disappointed and be upset in such a good moment in my life.”

The upcoming good moment has been set up by what has been the greatest career ever for an Oregon State baseball player, Adley Rutschman’s greatness notwithstanding.

Nobody has put up batting numbers such as Bazzana during his three seasons with the Beavers. His career stats include school records in hits (251), home runs (45) runs scored (220), walks (180), doubles (52), stolen bases (66), on-base percentage (.497) and slugging percentage (.911).

Bazzana basically rewrote the career record book during his three seasons at Oregon State

As a junior in 2024, Bazzana earned Pac-12 Player of the Year honors, slashing .407/.568/.911 with 16 doubles, 28 homers, 84 runs, 66 RBIs, 16 stolen bases, 76 walks and only 37 strikeouts in 60 games.

He was a three-time All-Pac-12 and All-Pac-12 Defensive team selection and a two-time All-American. This season, Bazzana became the sixth unanimous first-team All-American in school history, joining Rutschman, Michael Conforto, Jake Thompson, Cooper Hjerpe and Jacob Melton. Bazzana was a finalist for the Golden Spikes and Dick Howser awards for the nation’s best player and was Most Outstanding Player for the Corvallis Regional.

During Bazzana’s time in Corvallis, the Beavers were winners. They went 48-18 overall and 20-10 in Pac-12 play in 2022, 41-20 and 18-12 in 2023 and 45-16 and 19-10 in 2024. Cumulative record: 134-54, and 57-32 in Pac-12 action. They made it to two Super Regionals and one Regional, but never to a CWS.

Bazzana is expected to go among the top four picks in the Major League Baseball draft on July 14 (courtesy OSU sports communications)

So though the 2024 season went well, the premature end will forever stick in his craw.

“I was most happy with the way I was able to carry myself and try to lead the guys with action on the field,” he says. “I was disappointed with where the season ended up, not coming through in Kentucky, but overall I was happy with the way I was able to go out and be consistent and play with my same passion and energy every day.

“The season as a whole was a good, winning season, but we were up and down with how we were clicking on all parts of the game. There were periods of time where we defended really poorly and won a lot of games. There were periods of time when we pitched poorly and won games. There were periods of time when we didn’t hit at all and pitched really well and won games.

“During the back third of the season, we started to have games where we were firing on all cylinders and beating teams by 10 runs and it was like, ‘Well, we have to continue to play that way.’ That was once we got more guys healthy. That was good, and we had a good Regional and felt really good going into the Super, but weren’t able to get it done there. We bounced back from some injuries and continued to work hard, we showed what we could do, but we didn’t get to finish the right way in Kentucky.”

Oregon State got three hits in its two losses to the Wildcats, certainly an all-time record low for a team in a Super Regional. Why didn’t the Beavers hit? Were they too tight? Travis takes a few seconds to answer.

“It’s hard to pinpoint,” he says finally. “Maybe (there was) a little bit of tightness, but Kentucky pitched well and had a good plan for all of us.

“We trusted ourselves to go against any pitching, but maybe we were just a touch looking for someone else to step up rather than getting it started on our own. People needed to step up more individually. And maybe a little of tightness or doubt crept in at times.”

Afterward, Bazzana was crestfallen. He had come to Oregon State to “continue the tradition” and win a national championship. Now it wasn’t going to happen.

“It was all kind of emotions,” he says. “I was upset. Sad. But also frustrated with my own chances to step up, and just as a team.

“You want to see the guys step up in those situations and perform. All of us felt frustrated that we couldn’t get it done, and upset that it would be the last time we would get to play together. (It was) most likely my last game in that uniform. Seeing it end like that was tough.”

Bazzana says he watched only “little parts” of the College World Series, won by Tennessee.

“I didn’t set my TV on it,” he says. “I paid some attention, but wasn’t religiously watching games. It was about decompressing and moving forward.”

Bazzana takes some solace in knowing that he basically rewrote the Oregon State hitting department’s record book.

“It definitely means a lot knowing where I sit with a lot of people I really look up to in Beaver history,” he says. “Names like Adley Rutschman, Nick Madrigal, Michael Conforto, Darwin Barney … It’s cool to be in that conversation and on the wall with those people, because I look up to them and have wanted to learn from them for a long time.

“I will continue to look up to and idolize some of those people I am sitting above or below with some of the records.”

Asked for general thoughts on his time at Oregon State, Bazzana again takes a brief pause before responding.

“The biggest thing for me is how far I came as a person and a player,” he says. “I grew at a rapid rate in both those things. I have learned so much about myself — how to be a leader and a teammate and a good person in the community off the field. A lot of that came from what Skip — (head coach) Mitch Canham — has taught me and how he has trusted in me. And on the field, you can see by the progression of quantifiable numbers. I definitely made some huge jumps as a player. The people around me and the resources and everything allowed that to happen.

“It was such an enjoyable three years at Oregon State. Not ever getting to where we ultimately wanted to go in terms of team success was hard, but it was three really solid seasons, and an incredible life experience.”

Bazzana had another honor that was important to him this season. He was named to the Pac-12 All-Academic first team.

“I have always tried my hardest to hold my academics to the standard I would hold myself to in any endeavor,” he says. “It is part of who I am, what I do — trying to carry myself to a high standard and be successful in whatever I am doing.”

Bazzana says he intends to one day get his diploma in psychology.

“I still have some work to do to finish my degree, but I am on the right track,” he says. “I plan to finish that up in the next couple of years. It is not something I want to let linger and have to do it when I am 35 years old. I want to get it done and know that I completed something that is pretty special.”

I ask Travis about his feelings on the disintegration of the Pac-12.

“It is unfortunate considering the prowess and quality of the Pac-12 as a whole in all sports,” he says. “It is sad to see it be the end, but on a program front (with OSU baseball), we have the right people to find a way to continue this winning history and keep building quality people and baseball players on and off the field.

“There will be a constant push for national baseball championships in the next couple of years and hopefully into the future. I am going to do my best to be around the program. I know the coaching staff is doing the right things in terms of recruiting and planning for the future to continue the program’s success. It is sad considering the conference was so strong, but it is just one of these things that we work through. I think Oregon State is going to be just fine.”

Oregon State’s independent schedule the next two seasons “is going to be no issue,” Bazzana believes.

“Oregon State is about playoff baseball and making it to Omaha and trying to win World Series,” he says. “Not having a conference is a little different, but it has never been just about winning the conference. It has always been about making a run to Omaha and a push to win the World Series.

“It doesn’t really change much. The strength of schedule is going to be good. We are going to win games. We are going to win a Regional and make a run like always. That’s what matters. Pat Casey set the standard that it’s about winning national championships, and that’s what we are going to do.

“The conference stuff will figure itself in a couple of years. As long as there is success across the board, we will be able to find a place that allows us to continue the program’s success once the conference gets figured out.”

Bazzana has enjoyed a close relationship with the Oregon State coaching staff, particularly with Canham and assistants Ryan Gipson, Darwin Barney and Joey Wong. It is a part of OSU baseball that he will miss as much as anything.

“They have been unbelievable for me,” Bazzana says. “We have built stronger and stronger relationships together as my three years have gone on. They understand the goals and expectations I have for myself. They have held me honest and accountable for that. They are also willing to have the hard conversations. We are constantly looking to get better, to make the program better together. I have that passion. We’re always talking about those things.

“They have been great to me and really helped me become a better person. I am excited to see them continue the program. I will be around as much as I can and continue to give back and be a part of it.”

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