{"id":779923,"date":"2026-07-05T04:50:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T04:50:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/779923\/"},"modified":"2026-07-05T04:50:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T04:50:13","slug":"mlb-2026-former-no-1-pick-travis-bazzana-gets-selected-for-all-star-game-in-the-australians-first-season-with-the-cleveland-guardians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/779923\/","title":{"rendered":"MLB 2026: Former No.1 pick Travis Bazzana gets selected for All-Star Game in the Australian\u2019s first season with the Cleveland Guardians"},"content":{"rendered":"

Australian Travis Bazzana\u2019s rapid rise in Major League Baseball has continued after earning a place on the American League roster for the All-Star Game through player balloting.<\/p>\n

Bazzana\u2019s selection as a player-elected reserve comes only a few months after the Sydney native made his Major League debut for the Cleveland Guardians in late April.<\/p>\n

\ufeffWatch live coverage of the 2026 MLB Season with ESPN on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n

That speaks to just how highly Bazzana\u2019s peers think of the former first overall pick, who joins Australian baseball greats David Nilsson, Grant Balfour and Liam Hendriks as the only other countrymen to receive the honour.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was honestly a little speechless, because I didn\u2019t expect it at all,\u201d Bazzana told media, including news5.cleveland.com<\/a>, in the Guardians dugout.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe guys were around me, and they\u2019ve, you know, helped me bring out some version of myself to play and perform to the level of getting this nod.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a good sign,\u201d Bazzana added on being a player-elected reserve.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt puts perspective on things. I do set high expectations for myself, and I\u2019m going to continue to work. I think there\u2019s a lot left that I can bring to the team on the field moving forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s cool that I am a performer and a good second baseman in the American League when I feel like there\u2019s a lot left to work on and to continue to bring out on a more daily basis.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ MORE: How \u2018one-of-a-kind\u2019 Travis Bazzana took the US by storm… and the gamble behind MLB Draft history<\/a><\/p>\n

Cleveland Guardians’ Travis Bazzana celebrates after hitting a first-pitch home run during the first inning of a baseball game against the Houston Astros.Source: AP<\/p>\n

Bazzana is one of five rookies to be selected, joining teammate and starting pitcher Parker Messick to make club history.<\/p>\n

It is the first time the Guardians have had two rookies picked for the All-Star game.<\/p>\n

Bazzana entered the league with high expectations as not only the first overall pick in the 2024 draft, but Cleveland\u2019s first-ever No.1 selection.<\/p>\n

Bazzana, a standout second baseman at Oregon State, hit .287\/.422\/.511 in 24 Triple-A games with the Columbus Clippers before getting his long-awaited Major League call-up earlier this year.<\/p>\n

The Australian hit his first career home run in his ninth big league game, helping Cleveland to a 6-4 win over the Twins and the once struggling Guardians have surged into postseason contention since Bazzana\u2019s promotion.<\/p>\n

Travis Bazzana #37 of the Cleveland Guardians runs out an RBI double during the third inning against the Chicago White Sox at Progressive FieldSource: AFP<\/p>\n

Bazzana had been slashing .255\/.347\/.420 with 12 doubles, seven home runs and 27 RBIs across 57 games at the time of his All-Star selection and while the nod is a huge honour for the 23-year-old, you get the sense it is still just the start of what he hopes to achieve in putting Australian baseball on the world stage.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a long way from where I want to take it in terms of the impact back home,\u201d Bazzana told foxsports.com.au before being drafted.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s pretty special to me but I\u2019ve been working towards this and I just want to continue that.<\/p>\n

\u201cCurtis Mead is up in the big leagues right now. That\u2019s just incredible and I want to meet him up there with a bunch of the guys and start to really, really hit the market back home for making Australia a real baseball powerhouse soon.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australian Travis Bazzana\u2019s rapid rise in Major League Baseball has continued after earning a place on the American…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":779924,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,591,85],"class_list":["post-779923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/779923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=779923"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/779923\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/779924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=779923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=779923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=779923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}