How Ryan Rowland-Smith helped first Aussie picked No. 1 in MLB Draft

There is an army of supporters behind every No. 1 pick. In the case of Australian second baseman Travis Bazzana, who heard his name announced Sunday as the No. 1 pick in the 2024 MLB Draft while surrounded by friends, family and Oregon State teammates at his draft party, there was also someone well known to Seattle Sports listeners and Mariners fans: Ryan Rowland-Smith.

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“I am so honored to be able to be there with him and be a part of it,” said Rowland-Smith on the Mariners radio postgame show Saturday night. “I’m still in shock. I can’t believe little Travis is going to be getting called out from (MLB commissioner) Rob Manfred for being one of the top picks in the draft. It’s just bizarre. I just remember him as a little loudmouth kid. I can’t believe it.”

Can’t help but to be proud. #GoBeavs pic.twitter.com/gGLM1Y9HSG

— Oregon State Baseball (@BeaverBaseball) July 15, 2024

Rowland-Smith has known Bazzana since baseball’s new top pick joined one of his NxtGen camps for young Australian players to come to the US at just 12 years old. More recently, Bazzana spent a summer living with Rowland-Smith and his family while he worked out at Driveline Baseball.

“He was there on our very first tour,” said Rowland-Smith, who was signed by the Mariners out of Newcastle, Australia in 2000. “We tried to put this group together with a couple of players we thought were really good little players and we would love to bring over to the States. I just remember with him, he was always that kid just running around, he loved it. He was always the first one there. He was just like this wide-eyed kid.”

The next year, Bazzana joined Rowland-Smith’s NxtGen Baseball tour and raised some eyebrows. The scuttlebutt was the teen was feisty, but Rowland-Smith liked what he saw.

“I loved it,” he said. “This kid is awesome. He was picking stuff up off the back of the bus. We had this little evaluation meeting to check in with the kids, he’s got a pen and paper there writing down notes. It was just wild.”

Despite the talent he displayed, Bazzana did not make the Australian national team, a slight that ultimately added fuel to the fire for the young Aussie.

“I remember he was so upset over it. They told him he was a little guy and he needed to learn how to run, how to be faster,” said Rowland-Smith. “So he went and got a sprint coach, got really, really fast and went, ‘Hold on a minute, why can’t I hit for power?’ Then he goes off to Oregon State and goes, ‘I know I can hit for power.’ And he just made it his mission.”

Rowland-Smith has been impressed with how Bazzana has been able to continue blazing his own path. He passed up summer ball, which is viewed as an important opportunity to be seen pre-draft by scouts, for time at Driveline Baseball instead.

“His work ethic is off the charts,” Rowland-Smith said. “‘What’s next?’ is his mindset.”

A lot of hype surrounds MLB's No. 1 Draft prospect Travis Bazzana 🔊@hyphen18 sat down with the @BeaverBaseball standout ahead of the 2024 Draft to discuss his diverse skill set and more. pic.twitter.com/0PbdniBb0B

— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) July 14, 2024

Blazing a new trail in MLB Draft

In one particular matter, Rowland-Smith sees Bazzana’s chosen path opening doors.

“As an international free agent signee, the narrative is any kind of money you get, you just take it,” he said. “Travis questioned that early on. When you hear from different people, ‘Just go into it, take your opportunity and what is offered,’ he looked at it and had done so much research and finding his comps talent-wise and saw that they were going Division 1 and for millions. ‘Am I crazy?'”

Instead of taking a small offer from the Detroit Tigers when he was just 16, Bazzana came stateside instead to attend Oregon State University, where he played for Lake Stevens (Wash.) High School product and former Mariners minor league manager Mitch Canham. It is clear going against the international norms has paid off.

“The fact he could block the noise out at that point – at that age? I couldn’t do that,” Rowland-Smith said. “That was the most impressive thing.”

Rowland-Smith hopes more Australian kids will do the same. For years he has seen the rare, young Australian baseball player take the first offer thrown at them, sign for a little bit of cash and end up going back to Australia, lost having not come close to making the big leagues. Getting kids into D1 schools is a focus of his camps and clearly a personal passion. He sees the needle now moving in a positive direction.

“There is now a handful of players, they just watched what happened with Travis and there is no way they are going to sign out of high school. They are going to DI. That is huge, that’s what’s important to me.”

Rowland-Smith, who was invited to attend the draft party in Corvallis, called the experience of watching Bazzana and his parents realize the baseball dream “amazing.” As the scene unfolded, he found himself thinking bigger picture, a world away.

“It’s crazy, if you are going to go big, you may as well go all the way big,” he said. “Go back 12 months ago, he could go top-five rounds. ‘Can you imagine? That would be amazing.’ To get to this point and see No. 1 overall? And he grew up 7,000 miles away from any baseball field? You have to go there to understand, baseball doesn’t exist from a mainstream aspect. You have to fall in love with the game to understand.”

With any luck, Bazzana being drafted No. 1 could put baseball more into focus in Australia. Rowland-Smith believes the money and the number attached to the selection will draw attention much like it did when Andrew Bogut went first in the 2005 NBA Draft.

“Andrew Bogut signing changed basketball over there,” Rowland-Smith said. “Jersey sales over there, (Milwaukee) Bucks games showed. If they can do that and the kids latch onto Travis, that can change baseball in Australia.”

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