CLEVELAND -- Guardians second baseman Travis Bazzana issued an ABS challenge in the third inning on Monday, on a 2-1 four-seamer from Kirby Yates located up and away. The called strike was confirmed upon review, after which Bazzana turned to home-plate umpire Jonathan Parra and said, “My bad.”
Bazzana sliced Yates’ ensuing pitch into the left-center-field gap for a two-run double. All’s well that ends well, and it’s hard to fault him for the unsuccessful challenge. He’s shown incredible command and understanding of the strike zone early on in his big league career.
“They're professional at-bats, and it's a quality at-bat,” said bench coach Tony Arnerich, who served as the Guardians’ active manager on Monday with Stephen Vogt under the weather. “You can count on him for that, and that's what's going to keep him here [in the Majors] for sure.”
We saw it once more on Monday, when the Guardians beat the Angels, 7-2, at Progressive Field in the opener of a three-game series. Bazzana went 1-for-2 with two walks. He has now drawn 12 free passes through his first 11 career big league games, joining Milt Galatzer (13 in 1933) as the only players in franchise history to pull off that feat.
Bazzana is also only the fourth player in the Wild Card Era (since 1995) to draw at least 12 walks in his first 11 career games, joining Seiya Suzuki (2022), Andy LaRoche (‘07) and Akinori Iwamura (‘07).
The Guardians recorded 10 walks as a team on Monday, which marked their most since they drew 14 on Aug. 20, 2024, against the Yankees.
Bazzana entered Monday with a .194/.396/.278 slash line in 48 plate appearances through his first 11 big league games. But those numbers totally undersold the approach that he’s carried with him to the game’s highest level.
Entering Monday, Bazzana’s 16.0 percent chase rate was tied with Pittsburgh’s Jared Triolo for fifth-lowest among 406 hitters who have seen at least 50 pitches out of the zone. Bazzana also had a 12.5 percent strikeout rate and a 20.8 percent walk rate, both stellar figures.
“His ability to control the zone is what elite hitters do,” Arnerich said. “And that's why it's so exciting to think about what he could do in this league. He's doing that at a very young age and a very early time in his career.”
Bazzana has long been known for his plate discipline. Before the Guardians promoted him to the Majors last month, he worked to find a balance between discipline and being passive. He described it as “finding this fine line between zone aggression and still having a great eye to not give in to stuff,” such as strike-to-ball pitches.
Bazzana has been pleased with how that adjustment has translated to the Majors. No, he hasn’t been producing hits at a high clip yet, but we can see that his process is sound.
“I've been able to take my walks throughout the last couple years, but I think I'm getting better at going at pitches I should go out at in the zone,” Bazzana said Monday. “It’s just matching my plan to what the pitcher’s got and my strengths, and kind of just balancing that and going up there with conviction every time.
“I feel like I'm tracking really well, so it's working out right now.”
Take his at-bat against Yates. Bazzana went ahead 2-0 by successfully challenging a four-seamer that landed below the zone and taking another high. He then got a splitter down and inside and chopped it foul. The 2-1 pitch he unsuccessfully challenged was perfectly located, and perhaps the type of pitch that falls under those you don’t want to give in to.
Yates came back with a 2-2 heater over the plate and slightly away, and Bazzana lined it to left-center for a double, out of the reach of diving center fielder Mike Trout.
Bazzana entered Monday with an expected batting average of .268 and an expected slugging percentage of .365, both of which were well above his true outcome numbers. His 90.4 mph average exit velocity was also above league average.
Bazzana’s actual numbers figure to inevitably increase as he continues to command the zone and hunt his pitches. Having those attributes as a baseline is what will lead to consistency in the long run. As Arnerich noted, a walk can turn a 1-for-4 night into a 1-for-3 for the team.
“I told him, ‘Hey, you're doing great with your ABs,’” shortstop Brayan Rocchio said. “‘I know you don't have the [results] that you want, but you’re taking really, really good ABs, and that helps the team be better.’”