Guards No. 1 prospect Bazzana (left oblique) exits early with Triple-A Columbus

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.

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.”

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.