Cleveland Guardians Executive Discusses Travis Bazzana's Injury

Chris Antonetti, Cleveland Guardians President of Baseball Operations, says Travis Bazzana is still motivated despite his injury.

RubberDucks' Travis Bazzana follows a long fly ball to the wall in a game against the Altoona Curve on April 13, 2025, in Akron, Ohio. | Phil Masturzo / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Travis Bazzana came into the 2025 season as the top prospect in the Cleveland Guardians system and one of the best overall young talents in baseball.

There was a chance the 2024 No. 1 overall draft pick could make his debut later in the season, but now Bazzana is just focused on getting healthy.

Bazzana was diagnosed with an oblique strain on May 20, and the initial return-to-play timeframe was set at 8-10 weeks.

Chris Antonetti, Guardians President of Baseball Operations, recently discussed the injury and Bazzana's current mindset.

"He went through a period there where he was just not himself offensively. There were things he was struggling with with his swing, and it carried over to his mindset," said Antonetti (via MLB.com's Tim Stebbins).

Cleveland Guardians top prospect Travis Bazzana warms up before the start of Akron RubberDucks home opener against Altoona Curve. Tuesday, April 08, 2025. | Julie Vennitti Botos / Canton Repository / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

"He worked - like he always does - exceptionally hard to turn that around. We were seeing the benefits of that in the weeks prior to the injury."

Before the injury, Bazzana was hitting .252/.362/.433 with a wRC+ of 136 at Double-A. The contact-hitter was making a strong case for a promotion to Triple-A, but then the injury got in the way of that.

"He shared that's part of what made it frustrating, because he felt he was finally hitting his stride and where he wanted to be offensively and getting locked in, and then the injury provided a setback," continued Antonetti.

"He's committed to coming out the other side, knowing what he needs to do to be a successful hitter, and carrying that forward from the progress he made earlier in the season."

At the beginning of the 2025 season, there was hope that Bazzana could be playing big league games with the Guardians by the time August rolled around.

At this point, let's just hope Bazzana returns from the injury and can prove he's healthy on the field before the year is over.

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