Australia baseball player Travis Bazzana, playing for Oregon State in his final college season is in the pipeline to be the No.1 prospect in the Major League Baseball draft on July 14, years after deciding to switch from cricket.
Who is Travis Bazzana?
Ranked fifth national in the batting average charts, the second baseman of Oregon State, Bazanna is being tipped to become the No.1 pick in the upcoming MLB draft, which would make him the first Australian to be selected in the first round.
Now 22, Bazzana was recently declared the MVP in the Cape Cod League, the esteemed baseball summer league, and saw his home runs jump from 11 to 28 this year. He also set an Oregon State record with 84 runs scored and 74 walks in a single season, and was a finalist in the prestigious Golden Spikes Award, given to the top amateur baseball player. He won the Pac-12 Player of the Year this year, given to the most outstanding athlete in the United States.
Bazzana’s tryst with cricket
Like many Australians, Bazzana played cricket in his school days while in the country. He turned out as a wicketkeeper-opening batter for Turramurra High School, and captained his team to their first New South Wales state championship. But, by 15, he was certain of wanting to switch to baseball. He made his debut for the Sydney Blue Sox in 2018 and was the youngest in the league that year.
Bazzana reflected on the switch towards taking up professional baseball and the challenges it posed. He told on The Book of Joe podcast: “I think a lot of my best friends were playing cricket and I was playing with them and enjoying it thoroughly, but I was always putting in the extra work for baseball. I’d be hitting baseballs before I went to go play my cricket game. But yeah, I had a great time playing cricket and did miss the sport after I fully kind of committed to baseball at sixteen.”
While talking to ESPN Australia, Bazzana expanded on his decision further: “I guess from a young age, cricket in the backyard, baseball in the field and then at 10, I started playing cricket. Like, actually in clubs and representatively. But, baseball just was more, I was more passionate about it. If there was extra time for me to put practice into something, it was baseball and I loved it and I’d say I was probably a little bit better at baseball than I was at cricket. So, it made it a little easier.”
He also credited cricket for improving his baseball skills: “I always took a lot of extra reps hitting in baseball, but playing cricket from a really young age to 16 years old, it's just more bat-to-ball work. I think that had a true impact on what I can do now on the field.”
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