Travis Bazzana Peaking for the Guardians at the Perfect Time

It doesn’t matter how high a player is drafted, what their draft prospect profile looks like, or, truly, what their stats look like at the Minor League level. At some point, everyone is going to go through learning curves and growing pains once they reach the Majors.

Both Cleveland Guardians manager Stephen Vogt and Travis Bazzana have said throughout the year there will be ebbs and flows, high points and low points, and ups and downs throughout his rookie season.

Last month may have been more of a rough patch for Bazzana, but the 24-year-old single-handedly left his mark and helped the Guardians win a handful of games.

It looks like Bazzana is starting to find his rookie season peak, and couldn't be coming at a better time. 

Over the weekend, it was his two-run home run and eventual walk-off base hit that helped Cleveland take down the Detroit Tigers.

Then, on Tuesday night, his two-run blast against the Baltimore Orioles helped Cleveland go on to win the game in gritty fashion.

Over the rookie's last 15 games, he owns an .896 OPS, collected 16 hits (.327 AVG), and has driven in 16 runs. 

What makes this production even more impressive is that Bazzana was just a month ago; he wasn’t in the same spot then.

August was a rough month for the rookie, and he’d be the first to tell you that. Bazzana had a wRC+ of just 64 and a .566 OPS during the month, and even started to see a little bit of playing time diminish, especially when the Guardians were facing a tough left-hander.

Instead of sulking over those stats, Bazzana has clearly used them to learn more about himself, and that’s helped fuel his impressive run over the last week.

“I mean, it's tough [to always stay confident]. “I'm trying to figure that out myself,” Bazzana said on Wednesday postgame

“You just have to keep preparing as best you can. I think if you prepare the best you can and, take a step back and see things from a different perspective and see what you can work on. If you prepare, you allow yourself to trust yourself.”

Cleveland’s skipper added that, “We've talked about Travis all year; there's gonna be ups and downs. There's gonna be great stretches, there's gonna be some not so great stretches.

“But He's remained the same throughout. 
Really like the way he's attacking his plate appearances right now, and he's playing some good defense, too. Travis is really, really picking us up right now.”

At some point, a player needs to face adversity to grow. If Bazzana didn’t go through any learning curves during his first big-league season, there’s a chance he wouldn’t be the clutch player the Guardians have gotten over the last few games.