Selected No. 1 overall by the Cleveland Guardians in the 2024 MLB Draft out of Oregon State... was ranked by MLB as the No. 1 prospect in the 2024 Draft class... became the first Australian to be selected first overall in MLB Draft history... born in Sydney, Australia where he played cricket at Turramurra High School in New South Wales... played in the Australian Baseball League for the Sydney Blue Sox from 2018-2021 before coming to the United States and playing for Corvallis in the West Coast League, a collegiate summer wood bat league... became the second Oregon State player to get selected No. 1 overall, joining Adley Rutschman (2019, Baltimore)... became the eighth second baseman to be selected in the top 10 picks o a Draft, edging Rickie Weeks, who was the No. 2 overall pick by Milwaukee in 2003, for the earliest selection at his position... his selection marked the first time Cleveland has had the No. 1 pick in the Draft... the No. 1 pick in 2024 was valued at $10.57 million... with Bazzana born in Australia and No. 2 overall pick Chase Burns (Reds) born in Italy, the pair became the first foreign-born players to lead off a Draft's first two selections in MLB history
Joined Oregon State as a freshman in 2022 and hit .306 with six homers and 44 RBIs in 63 games... set a school record during his sophomore season with 36 stolen bases while batting .374 with 11 homers and 55 RBIs in 2023... hit 28 homers in 60 games in 2024, the most by a Pac-12 player in 25 years... was named MVP of the Cape League League in 2023 when he hit .375 with six homers and 31 RBIs with Falmouth... in three seasons at Oregon State, he hit .360 with 45 homers, 165 RBIs and 66 stolen bases in 184 games
At Turramurra High School, he participated in the U18 Baseball World Cup for Team Australia in 2019 where he collected six hits and four RBIs over nine games as Australia went 4-5 including a 4-1 win over Japan... lettered in Cricket First XI from grade 7-12 as a wicketkeeper/opening batsmen and captained his team to its first ever state championship... participated in track and field (100m dash, long jump and high jump), basketball, soccer and rugby... volunteered as a softball coach with Special Olympics Australia... son of Jenny and Gary Bazzana; he has two brothers, Hayden and Mitchell... majored in psychology at Oregon State... told the Beavers he'd like to be a sports performance coach or sports psychologist after his playing career...
Awards & Honors at Oregon State:
• 2024 ABCA First-Team All-America
• 2024 Baseball America First-Team All-America
• 2024 College Baseball Foundation First-Team All-America
• 2024 D1Baseball.com First-Team All-America
• 2024 NCBWA First-Team All-America
• 2024 Perfect Game First-Team All-America
• 2024 College Sports Communicators First-Team Academic All-America
• 2024 Golden Spikes Award Finalist
• 2024 Dick Howser Trophy Semifinalist
• 2024 Pac-12 Conference Player of the Year
• 2024 All-Pac-12 First Team
• 2024 Corvallis Regional Most Outstanding Player
• 2023 Collegiate Baseball Second-Team All-American
• 2023 ABCA Second-Team All-American
• 2023 NCBWA Third-Team All-American
• 2023 Academic All-America Third Team
• 2023 Academic All-District
• 2023 Baton Rouge Regional All-Tournament Team
• 2023 All-Pac-12 First Team
• 2023 Pac-12 All-Defensive Team
• 2023 Pac-12 All-Tournament Team
• 2022 Collegiate Baseball Freshman All-American
• 2022 Perfect Game First-Team Freshman All-American
• 2022 NCBWA Freshman All-American
• 2022 All-Pac-12 First Team
• 2022 Pac-12 All-Defensive Team
High-A Affiliate
