Team Australia got the World Baseball Classic off to a major bang as top prospect Travis Bazzana smashed a no-doubt home run in the opening game.
Travis Bazzana's stock has seemed to dip a little over the last year, but I still believe he's going to be a Top-10 second baseman for fantasy long-term.
Probably spends more of 2026 with Cleveland than in Triple-A as well.pic.twitter.com/lGi0EAXhDq
— Eric Cross (@EricCrossMLB) March 5, 2026
That home run was 104mph exit velocity. The future Cleveland Guardians second baseman is going to be a great ball player in a few years. He has already made an impact in the minors after being drafted No. 1 overall to the Guardians a few years ago.
After the win over Chinese Taipei, Bazanna spoke about the World Baseball Classic and whether this was a “shocking win.”
“In 2024, we played in the ‘Premier 12' and Chinese Taipei were the champions,” Bazzana said. “They are an incredible baseball team, but I mean, we had two ex-major leaguers pitch today, and the third guy was one of the toughest pitchers for any left-hander to face. A lot of experience throughout our team. When we go against anyone, we will have belief and trust in each other.”
Australia won 3-0 as Chinese Taipei did not score a single run. In fact, they only had three hits. It won't get any easier for Chinese Taipei as they take on former champions, Japan, in their next game.
Australia will quickly move on as they take on Czechia at 10:00 pm ET on Thursday night. Before many teams can play their first game, both of these two teams would have completed two games already. Korea already defeated Czechia 11-4 on Thursday morning.
This tournament is going to fly by. Make sure you soak it all in and enjoy the show.
