The Washington Nationals are pinning much of their future success on the shoulders of an 18-year-old phenom from Nevada. Bryce Harper was the first pick in the 2010 Major League Baseball Draft. After having impressive spring training with the Nationals, Harper began the season with their Hagerstown Class A affiliate and was recently promoted to the AA Harrisburg, PA Senators.
Harper appeared on the field in the Washington, DC area for the first time this week when the Senators faced the Bowie Baysox at Prince George’s Stadium for a three game series.
Harper has been having early troubles with AA pitching, taking a .171 batting average into the Baysox series. Harper went hitless for the first two games although he did have a sacrifice fly in the opener and was on base twice in the second game with a walk and reaching on an error. The Senators lost both of those games.
In the final game of the series, with an 11:05 a.m. start, Harper homered and singled twice in four plate appearances as the Senators took away a 6-3 win
The large crowd Tuesday night was about evenly mixed between the Orioles AA affiliate Baysox, fans and Senators (Nationals) fans. After the Tuesday night game Harper stayed behind for quite some time patiently signing autographs for his adoring fans, an early sign of things to come when the Harper train finally reaches the Nation’s Capital.
