No. 2 Draft prospect Bazzana homers 5 times in 2 games
Ben Weinrib
@benweinribTravis Bazzana's power bat seemingly never takes a break -- even in the rare Monday college baseball game.
Just one day after going deep three times and setting Oregon State's single-season home run record, the No. 2 Draft prospect knocked another two homers in the Beavers’ 20-12 win over Gonzaga.
This latest power display was Bazzana's seventh multihomer game of the season, which is all the more impressive considering he hit 11 total roundtrippers last season. The only Division I player with more home runs this season is Georgia's Charlie Condon (33, No. 1 Draft prospect) as the Australia native moved into a tie with Florida's Jac Caglianone (No. 3 Draft prospect), Morehead State's Roman Kuntz and Austin Peay's Lyle Miller-Green with 26.
It took a while for Bazzana to flex his power on Monday -- in part because he didn't get much to hit. After striking out to lead off the game, the Zags intentionally walked him in the second and walked him on five pitches in the fourth inning.
But in his fourth trip to the plate, the lefty pounced on a high breaking ball and launched it way out to left field. And then after lining out and singling his next two times up, Bazzana crushed a low-and-in fastball deep over the right-field fence.
In all, the junior reached base five times, drove in four runs and scored a season-best four times, which raised his OPS 17 points to 1.585. Incredibly, he's just one total base away from his slugging percentage hitting exactly 1.000.
Bazzana's large outputs are perhaps only surpassed by his consistency. He has multiple hits in 22 of his 47 games and only dipped below a .400 average for one game. He's homered in all but one conference series and has reached base safely in every game.
And it's not just the power -- Bazzana remains one of the most disciplined players in college. His two walks on Monday extended his D1-leading total to 61, and he's only struck out 25 times.
Bazzana entered the season as the third-ranked Draft prospect and has only cemented his status as one of the elite college players in a campaign that landed him on the Golden Spikes midseason watch list. MLB Pipeline's latest mock draft projects him to go second overall to the Reds, although MLB.com's Jim Callis said earlier that his positional value and left-handed swing could make him a strong candidate to go first overall to the Guardians.