After nearly two years of waiting, Travis Bazzana finally made his MLB debut for the Cleveland Guardians last week. The organization’s No. 1 overall prospect took the field at Progressive Field.

Bazzana has only played in two games up to this point, but still has a big enough sample size to get a few first impressions from the 23-year-old’s first MLB games.

Some highly touted prospects come up to the big leagues wide-eyed and clearly are overcome by the moment and aren’t ready for the pressure that comes with it. The same can’t be said for Travis Bazzana, early in his MLB career.

Two batters into his debut, he smacked his glove, ran behind second base, and called for a pickoff attempt. The runner was safe, but a young player will only do that if they have confidence, which Bazzana clearly does.

From every aspect of the game, Bazzana looks prepared. Even after making an error in his second big-league game, he had a quick memory and flushed the mistake.

Bazzana has played in the College World Series, the Midwest League Championship, and the World Baseball Classic. All of those experiences in high-leverage moments and the big stage are clearly paying off.

Travis Bazzana has eight plate appearances through his first two games. The left-hander hitter has walked twice, including an intentional walk in the ninth inning of his debut, but is still waiting for his first big-league hit.

Just looking at the box scores isn’t enough to totally judge and get an impression from Bazzana’s first batch of at-bats, though. Despite being hitless, Bazzana is hitting the ball incredibly hard

Bazzana has an early average exit velocity of 95 mph, and hit two balls over 100 mph in Thursday’s win over the Tampa Bay Rays. His flyout to deep center field may have been a home run if it had been hit on a sunny, warm, humid day in July, not a cold, damp, and misty day in April.

There’s something a player can’t control, and as long as he keeps this approach and continues to hit the ball hard, that should set him up for success soon.

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