Cleveland Guardians fans should be excited to see Travis Bazzana take the diamond at Progressive Field whenever that time comes. However, that won't be for a while due to the oblique injury he suffered\
Bazzana had plenty of hype surrounding him as the No. 1 pick in the MLB Draft last year, but one analyst has started to become concerned with the left-hander's potential as a big-league hitter.
Keith Law of The Athletic released his top prospect list two months into the MLB season and ranked Bazzana at No. 25.
"I'm worried about this one, not because Bazzana's hurt and out for a while with an oblique strain, but because he has started to have trouble with contact due to his very steep swing, striking out 28 percent of the time in Double A before the injury,"
"I've also had less than glowing reports on his defense at second base. If he's a left fielder, and the contact skill isn't what it appeared to be, his most likely outcome isn't close to what it seemed last spring."
Starting with Law's contact concern, it's fair to point out the relatively high strikeout rate. Bazzana's strikeout percentage of 26.2 percent at Double-A is slightly higher than his 25.4 percent strikeout rate 25.4 at Single-A.
However, it's not like Bazzana isn't putting the ball in play or making contact with pitches. He's still connecting with 82.5 percent of the pitches he sees, which is up from where it was last season (80.4 percent).
Bazzana's defense has never been his calling card, so it isn't necessarily shocking that Law has possible issues with how he's looked at second base.
It'll take some time for Bazzana to get back on the field and prove his critics wrong. However, it still feels a little premature in the 22-year-old's contact issues when some of the underlying metrics are still strong.
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