According to Jon Morosi of MLB Network on August 20, the Cleveland Guardians organization is open to letting the overall 2024 No. 1 Major League Baseball Draft pick, Australian-born second baseman Travis Bazzana, play in the World Baseball Softball Confederation Premier12 tournament in November.
The Guardians front office and development officials have yet to make any final decisions.
Update: I'm told the Guardians are open-minded to Travis Bazzana representing @TeamAusBaseball at the @Premier12, although no final decisions have been made.
Would be massive news for the @WBSC.@TBazzana already has an .860 OPS at High Class A.@MLBNetwork @MLBPipeline https://t.co/sx05m3i8m4
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) August 20, 2024
The Premier12 tournament will be from November 10-24, following the regular seasons in the Chinese Professional Baseball League in Taiwan, the Liga Mexicana de Beisbol, Nippon Professional Baseball, Korea Baseball Organization, and the World Series.
Bazzana, 21, was born in Hornsby, Australia. He made his professional debut with the High-A Lake County Captains on July 26 after signing an $8.95 million contract on July 19.
Bazzana won the 2024 Pac-12 Player of the Year Award with the Oregon State University Beavers and played in 60 games with 296 plate appearances, .407 batting average, ripping 87 hits, 16 doubles, four triples, 28 home runs, 66 RBI, swiping 16 bases, 76 walks, 37 strikeouts, and a 1.479 OPS.
The left-handed hitter is batting .256 with 55 plate appearances in 12 games with High-A Lake County, smacking 11 hits, five doubles, one home run, seven RBI, three stolen bases, 10 walks, and 17 strikeouts.
Australia went 2-5 at the 2019 Premier12 tournament and advanced to the Super Round by finishing second in Group C and tying with Canada and Cuba.
Australia advanced out of Group C due to the Total Quality Balance run differential rule initiated by the WBSC.
The 12 nations that are competing in the Premier12 tournament are No. 1 Japan, No. 2 Mexico, No. 3 United States, No. 4 Korea, No. 5 Chinese Taipei, No. 6 Venezuela, No. 7 Netherlands, No. 8 Cuba, No. 9 Dominican Republic, No. 10 Panama, No. 11 Australia, and No. 12 Puerto Rico.
Group A of the Premier12 will be played at Estadio Panamericano in Zapopan, in the greater Guadalajara metropolitan area, and at a new stadium in Santa Teresita de Tepic from Nov. 10-14. Estadio Panamericano is the home of the Charros de Jalisco in both the Liga Mexicana de Béisbol and the Liga ARCO Mexicana del Pacifico and hosted group play during the 2019 WBSC Premier12.
Group B will be played at the Nagoya Dome in Nagoya, Japan, and Taipei City, Taiwan, from Nov. 14-18 at the Taipei Dome. The Super Round, featuring the top two teams from each group, will be played at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan from Nov. 21-24.
Tianmu Baseball Stadium in Shilin District, Taipei, Taiwan, and the Taipei Dome in Xinyi, Taipei, Taiwan, will host Group B games during the 2024 Premier12 tournament. Tianmu Baseball Stadium is home to the CPBL franchise, the Wei-Chuan Dragons.
The Taipei Dome opened last December for the WBSC Asia sector event of the Asia Baseball Championship. The venue also hosted exhibition games with the Yomiuri Giants of NPB and the CTBC Brothers of the CPBL during March 2-3 and a pair of preseason games before the start of the 2024 CPBL regular season.
The Wei Chuan Dragons played the Rakuten Monkeys on March 30, Opening Day of the 2024 CPBL regular season. A total of 28,618 fans attended, which is the CPBL’s all-time single-game record.
Group A will include Mexico, Panama, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, the United States and the Netherlands. Group B will feature Australia, Cuba, Japan, South Korea, the Netherlands, Chinese Taipei, and the Dominican Republic.
The Premier12 was supposed to be scheduled for 2023 but was moved to 2024 due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, which also moved the Tokyo Olympics from 2020 to 2021 and the World Baseball Classic from 2021 to 2023.
The WBSC will announce on its website and social media pages in the next few months what streaming provider it will use for the Premier12 in November.
Photo Credit: Travis Bazzana #37 of the Lake County Captains celebrates hitting a grand slam home run during the fifth inning against the Beloit Sky Carp at Classic Auto Group Park on July 31, 2024 in Eastlake, Ohio. This is the continuation of the July 30 game which was suspended due to inclement weather. (Photo by Nick Cammett/Diamond Images via Getty Images)
