Jose Ramirez made one small but impactful comment to Travis Bazzana during the Cleveland Guardians' Spring Training.
Jose Ramirez doesn’t talk a lot, but when the Cleveland Guardians star does speak, it’s important to listen. He’s a silent leader, but clearly makes an impact on the young players in the locker room, and the same can already be said about Cleveland’s recently called-up No. 1 overall prospect, Travis Bazzana.
Ramirez and Bazzana haven’t shared the field in a big-league game yet, but J-Ram has already found a way to give the 23-year-old his vote of confidence with a simple comment that he said down in Goodyear during spring training a few months ago.
“Yeah, we got some time [together],” said Bazzana on his relationship with Ramirez on Tuesday.
“One of my favorite days of spring training was a batting practice where we were in the same group. I kind of looked forward to those days. And I lucky enough, one of the last weeks we had a batting practice together, and I I felt like my my swings got better watching how like he was working and that was really cool for me and then he he kind of said something to me like ‘Bazanna you, you look ready. You're ready.’ And and I was like ‘That's cool.’”
Feb 24, 2026; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Cleveland Guardians second baseman Travis Bazzana hits a three run home run against the Los Angeles Dodgers during a spring training game at Camelback Ranch-Glendale. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn ImagesThat one little comment stuck with Bazzana into his next stretch of games and led to his best performance of the Cactus League. “Like that next week, I think I had a good game against the Giants and some different things,” explained Bazzana.
That game against the Giants, Bazzana is referring to, would end up being his final game with the big-league team before he was officially optioned to Triple-A and reassigned to Minor League Camp.
In that game, Bazzana went two-for-four at the plate with a pair of home runs, one of them coming off former Cy Young winner Robbie Ray.
As Bazzana prepares for his MLB debut and first stint at the big-league level, he knows that leaning on veterans such as Ramirez, is only going to help him achieve more success and get through the inevitable tough moments.
“If there's someone in that clubhouse that I want to feel like I got a like a really quality relationship to go out and like be my best version myself, like I watch him and I I love that what he does and so to have him say that I was like yeah, like that that's going to make me, you know, comfortable out here today.”
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