Travis Bazzana, the top pick in this month’s amateur draft, hit a grand slam for his first professional home run on Wednesday night in High-A Lake County’s 17-5 win over Beloit in the Midwest League.
The 21-year-old Australian, chosen by Cleveland on July 14, hit the home run with a drive to right-center in the fifth inning against left-hander Caleb Wurster, a 25-year-old pitcher from the Miami Marlins farm team.
Batting leadoff, Bazzana also had a single, walked twice, and scored three runs in the completion of a game that was suspended due to wet grounds on Tuesday night, with the score 0-0 and no outs in the top of the second inning.
He signed a contract for $8.95 million on July 19 after playing at Oregon State. Bazzana had an RBI grounder in his professional debut against Great Lakes on Friday and went 2 for 4 with a double on Sunday.
In his three games so far, Bazzana is hitting .364 with one home run, five RBIs, five runs, and a stolen base. He did not play in Wednesday’s scheduled game.
In another notable achievement, Baltimore’s Jackson Holliday, the top pick in the 2022 amateur draft, hit a grand slam in the fifth inning for his first major league home run in the Baltimore Orioles’ 10-4 win over Toronto on Wednesday afternoon.
Holliday, the son of seven-time All-Star Matt Holliday, made his major league debut on April 10. After going 2 for 34 with 18 strikeouts, he was sent to Triple-A Norfolk on April 26 and was recalled on Wednesday.
