CLEVELAND — Travis Bazzana exited Triple-A Columbus’ 4-3 win over St. Paul on Thursday with left oblique soreness, a source told MLB.com on Friday.
Bazzana (the Guardians’ No. 1 prospect and No. 15 overall, per MLB Pipeline) went 0-for-2 with a pair of strikeouts before he was lifted defensively entering the bottom of the fifth inning. It was not immediately clear what may have led to the oblique issue, though Bazzana made a leaping catch in the bottom of the fourth.
Bazzana previously missed about two months this season with an internal right oblique strain. The 23-year-old and No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 MLB Draft went on the 7-day Minor League injured list on May 21 with Double-A Akron, and he was activated by the RubberDucks on July 18.
The Guardians promoted Bazzana to Columbus on Aug. 11. Over 26 games with the Clippers, he has recorded a .225/.420/.438 slash line, three doubles, two triples, four home runs and 14 RBIs, with a stellar 24.2 percent walk rate compared to a 26.7 percent strikeout rate.
All said, in his first full professional season, Bazzana has slashed .245/.389/.424 with 17 doubles, five triples and nine homers with 39 RBIs in 84 games between Columbus, Akron and the Rookie-level Arizona Complex League.
COMPLETE GUARDIANS PROSPECT COVERAGE
Columbus entered Friday with nine games remaining in its season. Bazzana (who has registered 374 plate appearances over his 84 games this season) is not among the eight Guardians prospects slated to play in the Arizona Fall League this year.
Guardians vice president of player development Stephen Osterer noted on Thursday that Bazzana and the organization mutually reached that conclusion. Bazzana will spend part of the offseason home in Australia, before heading to Arizona to train for the 2026 season at Cleveland’s player development complex.
“He’s going to have around 80 games. He’ll have around 400 plate appearances or so,” Osterer said pregame Thursday at Progressive Field. “It wasn’t immediately obvious on what the best path was.
“But as we talked through it, I think both Travis and the [organization] and our people believe that spending time training in the offseason and having a full offseason was the best path for him. We’re excited about that for Travis.”
