Washington will turn slugger into outfielder
The Nationals selected 17-year-old junior-college star Bryce Harper with the No. 1 pick in the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft on Monday evening.
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The choice came as no surprise. Harper was long the favorite of general manager Mike Rizzo and the organization’s scouting department, led by director of amateur scouting Kris Kline.
Harper, a 6-foot-3, 205-pounder, was a catcher as an amateur player, where his strong arm made him a weapon behind the plate and only added to his value as a power-hitting left-handed batter. But Washington will turn Harper into a right fielder when he begins his pro career. That should allow him to move faster through the organization’s minor league system.
“We’re going to take the rigors and pressure of learning the difficult position of catcher away from [Harper] and really let him concentrate on the offensive part of the game,” Rizzo said.
Kline scouted Harper in person about 20 times and described him as the lone hitter in the 2010 draft with the potential to anchor the No. 3 spot in a major league batting order. The Nats believe his athleticism and strong throwing arm will allow a smooth transition to the outfield.
Harper is drawing hype comparable to that received by rookie pitcher Stephen Strasburg, the No. 1 pick in last year’s draft who makes his big league debut for the Nats on Tuesday. Harper, who appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated last June at age 16 under the headline “Baseball’s Chosen One,” skipped his final two years of high school to play junior college baseball for the College of Southern Nevada. He dominated at that level this spring, batting .443 with 31 home runs and 98 RBI using a wooden bat.
Still, no one in the organization believes Harper will move through the farm system as quickly as Strasburg did. That removes some of the relevance for the current players.
“A lot of those [No. 1] guys like [Harper] won’t be here for two, three, four years,” Nats third baseman Ryan Zimmerman said last month. “Baseball is a lot different than football or basketball, obviously. But draft picks like [Harper] are still part of our organization and a big part of what we need to do to get better and start winning on a regular basis.”
Of course, Harper has to sign a contract first. It took Rizzo and the Nats until the final seconds last August to agree to terms with Strasburg and his agent, Scott Boras. They settled on a four-year, $15.1 million deal — the most money ever guaranteed to an amateur player. Harper will also use Boras as his advisor.
“We’re going to put our best effort forward,” Rizzo said. “We’ve got a player who wants to play. We’ve got a representative that we’ve dealt with successfully in the past.”
