Travis Bazzana was the No. 1 pick in the 2024 MLB Draft, as Cleveland signed the Australian-born second baseman to a bonus that came in about $1.6 million under slot and allowed the Guardians to go over slot for several subsequent picks.
Bazzana debuted last year in High A, started strongly, then faded a little bit at the end of a very long season, while his team won the Midwest League championship. His 2025 season hasn’t gone well, mainly because of an oblique injury that kept him on the IL in Double A for two months. He’s been back for seven games and is still performing below expectations, with a .258/.361/.426 line this season. Now there are frequent questions about whether he can stay at second base or if his swing will work to produce the sort of power he showed in college.
I saw Bazzana on Friday with Double-A Akron at Harrisburg. He went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts (one called on a pitch that was above his elbows because a hacky frame job completely fooled the ump), and I saw both the defensive and power concerns.
His first step at second base is slow; his hands are fine, and he does get himself into the best position possible. However, I don’t see many middle infielders who are this heavy-footed — and it didn’t help that the guy to his right is extremely light on his feet.
His swing is uphill, about as steep as anyone I’ve seen in the minors in the last few years, so he puts the ball in the air a ton — but it’s more pop-ups and flyballs than you want and not as many line drives. He still controls the strike zone well, chasing pitches out of the zone just 10 percent of the time, and there’s some power against right-handed pitchers.
I’m just not seeing the same upside, either in the scouting look or in the data from this year, that Bazzana appeared to have on draft day. If you’re looking for a glimmer of hope, though, I think anyone would have said the same things about the swing and defense of Dustin Pedroia during his first stint in the majors in 2006. There is some precedent for this profile succeeding, just from the right side.
Braylon Doughty looks like a starter
One of the players Cleveland signed with the bonus pool savings from Bazzana is right-hander Braylon Doughty, who is currently pitching well on comically low pitch counts in Low A for Lynchburg.

Doughty has a hammer-breaking ball and commands it better than his fastball, dropping it in for called strikes almost at will and spinning it hard away from righties for chases. When I saw him on Saturday, he was 90-94 and was willing to pound the fastball inside to right-handed batters, as well. He didn’t show a changeup and used the breaking ball against lefties in typical changeup situations.
He threw four no-hit innings on exactly 60 pitches … and came out of the game. It wasn’t his season high in innings or pitches, and he wasn’t laboring in any visible way. As far as I could tell, it was just him hitting an arbitrary number in the box score. I have been vocal about the harms of overpitching guys, but I don’t know of any evidence that underpitching them keeps them healthy. Baltimore tried this with Grayson Rodriguez, and it didn’t prevent his injury this year or another one last year.
In Doughty’s case, he didn’t even turn over the Delmarva Shorebirds lineup a second time, facing just 14 batters, with the lone baserunner a hit batsman, getting six strikeouts out of the 13 outs.
I think Dought has a big-league out-pitch and looks like a starter. I’d like to see him stretched a little bit — this is less than he was throwing once a week in high school. He’s already got that swing-and-miss offering, so he should build him up for starting work and push him to develop at least one more pitch.
Guardians prospects Angel Genao, Cooper Ingle impress
Akron shortstop Angel Genao is all energy and athleticism and fast-twitch on both sides of the ball. Genao missed the first two months of 2025 with a hand injury, and his power isn’t back, but the left-handed hitter looks great. He smoked a line-drive single to right for his one hit in three at-bats, along with a walk.
He’s also got at least a 60 arm (on the 20-80 scouting scale) and showed a quick first step to his left on multiple plays. He may outgrow shortstop but won’t move off for lack of physical ability.
Catcher Cooper Ingle was the No. 2 hitter for Akron and took a lot of pitches. He didn’t swing until the 10th pitch he saw at the plate, walking twice on the evening. He has a short swing that aligns with his high contact rates and hits the ball hard enough to maintain a respectable batting average. I think he’s a future everyday catcher, or perhaps a platoon one, as he still hasn’t had any success against lefties other than walking.
Orioles prospects Chase Allsup, Andy Fabian display velocity
Delmarva started right-hander Chase Allsup, a 2024 fourth-round pick, in Saturday’s game. Allsup was 96-99 mph with four pitches, all of which were probably 45s, although the curveball has some promise.
Allsup was a starter at Auburn who threw strikes but gave up a lot of hard contact. In his half-year in pro ball, he’s been extremely wild, walking 14.6 percent of batters at a level where he’s older than most of the hitters he’s facing. Lynchburg’s lineup on Saturday didn’t have any hitters with even a .670 OPS on the season — yes, OPS is a flawed stat, but in this case it tells enough of a story — and Allsup walked three and struck out three in five scoreless innings.
Lefty Andy Fabian came in after Allsup and threw gas as well, although the delivery was a disaster. He was 95-96 mph with a tough downward-breaking slider but overrotates so severely that his front foot lands on the third base side of the mound. He can’t see the plate at release because his head moves so much.
(Top photo: George Kubas / Diamond Images via Getty Images)