CLEVELAND -- Travis Bazzana’s 2025 season is over after he was placed on the 7-day Minor League injured list Sunday with left flank soreness.
It was not immediately clear what may have caused the issue, but Bazzana made a leaping catch in the bottom of the fourth. He was lifted defensively in the bottom of the fifth inning.
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.
In his first full professional season, Bazzana 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. The Guardians promoted him to Columbus on Aug. 11.
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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. After a slow start to his first career Triple-A stint, he heated up in September.
Bazzana at Triple-A:
August: 17 games, .190/.420/.276, 22 walks, 20 strikeouts in 82 plate appearances
September: Nine games, .290/.421/.742, seven walks, 12 strikeouts in 38 plate appearances
Guardians VP of player development Stephen Osterer noted the adjustment Bazzana went through after getting to Triple-A, which uses the automatic ball-strike system, unlike in Double-A.
“His at-bats have been good,” Osterer said Thursday. “It's working through the approach, understanding how maybe more advanced pitchers with a better plan of attack are going to attack you. He’s working through all that, and I think he's starting to see some of the results after the last few weeks.”
Bazzana has registered 374 plate appearances over his 84 games this season. He is not among the eight Guardians prospects slated to play in the Arizona Fall League this year.
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.”
Brito undergoes hamstring surgery
The Guardians announced on Friday that Juan Brito (their No. 15 prospect, per MLB Pipeline) underwent left hamstring surgery. The 23-year-old is expected to be back at full strength in 8-12 weeks.
Brito suffered a left hamstring strain in July and last played for Triple-A Columbus on July 4. As he continued to ramp up in his rehab progression, he had a mild recurrence of symptoms, according to the team. He underwent an evaluation and imaging that determined surgery was the best path forward.
It’s a rough end to a tough season for Brito, who competed for the Guardians’ second-base job this spring and was widely expected to make his big league debut in 2025. But he was limited to 24 games with Columbus due to the hamstring strain and a high-grade ligament sprain in his right thumb.
Brito underwent surgery after he sprained his thumb sliding into third base on April 17 during Columbus’ game against Louisville. He went on the injured list and did not rejoin the Clippers’ lineup until June 24.
Brito slashed .256/.357/.463 with six doubles, three homers and 15 RBIs with Columbus this season.