Baseball fame and fortune beckon for former Turramurra High School student, Travis Bazzana, after he was picked up by the Cleveland Guardians as the number one pick in the USA Major League Baseball (MLB) draft.

After a couple of stellar seasons playing in the US College Baseball League for Oregon State, the 21-year-old second basemen has become the first Australian to be selected as the number one MLB draft pick. In fact, no Australian had ever been selected in the first-round draft. His rising star will be a fillip for Australian baseball in general.

Travis started playing baseball at age four and spent his junior playing years with the Ku-ring-gai Stealers team.

Baseball’s gain is cricket’s loss as Travis was also an outstanding young cricketer according to his cricket coach and Turramurra High School Industrial Arts Head Teacher, Will Delves.

Mr Delves said Travis was a wicketkeeper-batsman who, aged 13, was playing third grade district cricket among adults at Roseville where he became the youngest player to ever score a century.

Later, he captained the school cricket side to their first ever victory in the prestigious Alan Davidson Shield.

Mr Delves said Travis was also successful in a variety of the other sports. “He held the school high jump and long jump record and also played basketball; whatever he put his mind to, he’d excel,” he said.

“What’s special about Travis is that he was an all-rounder who built a culture of success. He had the ability to bring others up to his level. He brought out the best in his teammates. Everyone wanted to play with Travis.”

Mr Delves said Travis’s achievement today rivals the success of the school’s other famous sporting alumni, Shane Gould and Gail Neall, who both won Olympic Gold medals in swimming.

“He is unbelievably driven and always had a vision,” Mr Delves said. “At 15 years old, he and his dad mapped out his career using elite Major League baseballers – and their career pathways - as benchmarks for his own career. They set out his entire baseball pathway to today.”

Turramurra High School principal, David Arblaster, too was “thrilled” for Travis.

“He’s a remarkable young man; he’s just so driven and positive but not without a sense of fun,” Mr Arblaster said. “It’s no wonder he’s been able to turn that into this great achievement.

“I’m really proud of the opportunities that Travis was able to have at school. The way he made most of those opportunities at school and in the community was a big factor in his development.”

Travis will become one of Australia’s highest paid athletes with his signing on fee expected to be up to $15 million.