CORVALLIS — The kid from Down Under is heading to the heart of rock and roll.

The Cleveland Guardians selected Oregon State All-American Travis Bazzana with the No. 1 overall pick of the 2024 MLB draft on Sunday, making him the second player in Beavers history — and the first second baseman in draft history — to go with the top selection.

Former OSU catcher Adley Rutschman also went No. 1 to the Baltimore Orioles in 2019.

Bazzana’s selection puts a bow on a remarkable year in which he produced the finest individual season in the storied history of Oregon State baseball, broke a cornucopia of career- and single-season program records and helped put Australian baseball on the map.

Bazzana, who is from Sydney, Australia, is the first Aussie to be selected No. 1 overall and the 14th player from Oregon State to go in the first round, joining a distinguished group of former Beavers that includes the likes of Rutschman, Jacoby Ellsbury, Michael Conforto, Trevor Larnach, Nick Madrigal and Steve Lyons.

“I see a lot of opportunity to make an impact on a lot of baseball players and a lot of people back home in Australia and hopefully change the narrative for baseball there,” Bazzana said on ESPN shortly after his selection, when asked what it meant for his home country. “(This can) give belief to the players back home to go do great things in the US and pursue a Major League dream. Hopefully this is a step towards that.”

The junior second baseman arrived in Corvallis with great fanfare before the 2022 season — he earned MVP honors of the West Coast League before playing in his first college game — and instantly backed up the hype, earning Freshman All-American honors on a loaded OSU team that ascended as high as No. 1 in the national polls and reached the super regionals of the NCAA baseball tournament.

It was merely a taste of things to come.

Bazzana followed his standout debut season with an even better sophomore season, hitting .374 with 11 homers, 20 doubles, 78 runs scored, 55 RBIs and a school-record 36 stolen bases to earn All-American honors. Then, in 2024, Bazzana had the most prolific season in Oregon State history, hitting .407, with 28 home runs, 16 doubles, 66 RBIs and 84 runs scored, while recording a .911 slugging percentage and .568 on-base percentage.

He set program career records in home runs, stolen bases, runs scored, doubles, hits and walks and single-season records for homers, runs scored and total bases during the impressive season, after which he earned Pac-12 Player of the Year honors, finished as a finalist for the Golden Spikes Award and became the sixth unanimous First-Team All-American in OSU history. Bazzana was not only remarkably consistent last season, when he reached base in all 60 games he played, but also had a flair for the dramatic, hitting leadoff homers in four consecutive games.

Along the way, teammates and program insiders marveled as his maniacal work ethic, competitive spirit and thirst to be the best. He’s the seventh first-round selection from Oregon State since 2017.

And now Bazzana, who many consider the most polished hitter in college baseball, will join the Guardians organization, looking to follow in the footsteps of talented second basemen such as Roberto Alomar, Carlos Baerga and Jason Kipnis.

Bazzana is scheduled to meet with reporters Sunday evening at Goss Stadium in Corvallis, so check back with OregonLive.com for more on the MLB draft and his selection.

— Joe Freeman | jfreeman@oregonian.com | 503-294-5183 | @BlazerFreeman | Subscribe to The Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories