Bryce Harper's wild first two weeks in the Majors

Though it's only been two weeks since the Washington Nationals decided to call up their 2010 number one overall draft pick and phenom Bryce Harper, there's not much the 19-year old hasn't done already at the big league level in what looks to be the beginning of a promising career. Making his much anticipated Major League debut on the road against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Harper wasted little time to record his first big league hit as he did so in his third at-bat of the ballgame with a double to left-center field over the head of Matt Kemp before later adding a sacrifice-fly. With one out in the bottom of the seventh inning and runners on first and second, the Las Vegas native and LVHS alum would also showcase his cannon of an arm after fielding an A.J. Ellis single and throwing a strike to catcher Wilson Ramos in time to snag the runner at home, but Ramos failed to hang on to the ball, allowing the run to score. Unfortunately Harper's debut would then be overshadowed by the red-hot Matt Kemp who stole the show with a walk-off home run in the 10th inning as the Nationals fell to the Dodgers, 4-3. 

After receiving a warm welcome from the Nationals fan base during Harper's first home stand in Washington, Cole Hamels of the division-rival Philadelphia Phillies gave Harper a welcome of his own in front of a nationally televised audience with a bean ball to the lower back on the first pitch he saw. Later in the inning after advancing to third on a single by Jayson Werth, Harper would get a bit of revenge by stealing home plate on an attempted pick-off throw to first. Among those to congratulate Harper on his rare steal was teammate Mark DeRosa who's been nursing a sore left oblique muscle since late-April. DeRosa aggravated that same injury when the two exchanged high-fives, extending his time on the shelf. But similar to his first big league hit, his first steal would come in a losing effort as the Nats went on to lose the ballgame, 9-3. The biggest news however, would come after the game when Hamels admitted to intentionally throwing at Harper. "I was trying to hit him," Hamels said. "I'm not going to deny it." Little did Hamels know his comments would land him a 5-game suspension issued out by the Commissioners office as well as some backlash dished out by a variety of managers throughout the league who were opposed to Hamels purposely throwing at Harper for no apparent reason. 

And though Hamels' beanball was received without leaving a cool battle wound to brag about and show his friends, the mark left by Harper's bat tells a different tale. On a night he went 0-for-5 against the Reds, Harper vented some frustration by swinging a bat against the dugout wall which ended up bouncing back and catching the 2010 Golden Spikes Award winner right above the eye. With blood running down the side of his cheek, the cut which would require ten stitches looked like something out of a Gladiator scene with Harper's face-paint and eye black the only thing missing. If anything, that shot to the head was just what Harper needed to wake up the sleeping giant from his slump. Two games later, Harper would connect for his first Major League home run with a solo shot to center field off of Padres pitcher Tim Stauffer in the third inning, worthy of a curtain call. And after rounding the bases and receiving high-fives in the dugout from his teammates without hurting anybody this time, Harper ran up the stairs and acknowledged the fans still standing and applauding the 19-year old on what should be his first of many round-trippers. 

So just to recap the first few weeks of Bryce Harper's Major League endeavors, the kid has already stolen home, has a pair of home runs under his belt, was intentionally thrown at, injured a teammate, stirred up a bit of controversy and received his first medical bill (ten stitches). Pretty event-filled if you asked me. And with a young crop of talented hitters in Harper, Wilson Ramos and Ryan Zimmerman as well as veterans Jayson Werth and Michael Morse and pitchers Stephen Strasburg, Gio Gonzalez and Jordan Zimmerman in the rotation, the Nationals' rebuilding phase appears to have finally payed off with the ball club currently sitting atop the NL East at 22-13 and beginning to play a winning brand of baseball the city of Washington has waited so desperately to see since the organization relocated from Montreal and changed their name from the Expos in 2005. With almost all of their top prospects panning out at the Major League level and other organizations within the division only getting older and beginning to deteriorate, it wouldn't surprise me if the Nationals end up taking off in a similar way that the Tampa Bay Rays did a few years ago in '08. 


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