MLB Draft 2011: New Players Join Bryce Harper, Stephen Strasburg On Potentially Great Washington Nationals Roster

The Nationals drafted Anthony Rendon, Alex Meyer, and Brian Goodwin on Monday. They'll be joining an already talented young roster that has the potential to com
Jun 7, 2011 - "The Nats are doing pretty well without Strasburg," my father-in-law said to me, while wearing one of his many Baltimore Orioles t-shirts.
He's right. The Washington Nationals are just a few games under .500 this season. They have a winning record at home. Their roster is chock full of starter-quality players age 25 or under. The Nationals are right on track for their long-term plan to be contenders in the NL East within the next few years. If Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper continue to develop at the pace that fans and experts hope and predict, maybe the Nationals will someday even be World Series contenders. No, that's not hyperbole.
For a life-long Southern Maryland resident and Orioles fan like my father-in-law to even be mentioning the Nationals wouldn't have been expected two years ago. As the only major American sport without a salary cap, baseball is known for giving the fewest number of teams a chance to win. The rich get richer. If you're in a division with a high-spending team like the New York Yankees or Philadelphia Phillies, you're probably not going to make the playoffs, and you're definitely not going to win a title.
There are exceptions though. The San Francisco Giants were an exception last year. The Florida Marlins were famously an exception in 2003. The Nationals have been taking steps towards becoming an exception the past two years as well.
Strasburg and Harper could upset the balance of the NL East. And they won't be alone. Jayson Werth and Ryan Zimmerman aren't going anywhere. Jordan Zimmermann would be a great addition to any rotation. Drew Storen will be a reliable reliever. Wilson Ramos, Danny Espinosa, and Ian Desmond will each be valuable as role players.
That's not all though. The Nationals continue to add prospects with high ceilings. In the 2011 MLB Draft on Monday, the Nationals selected third baseman Anthony Rendon sixth overall, which could be a steal since Rendon was considered by many to be the best hitter available this year. Then the team added pitcher Alex Meyer at No. 23, who could be slotted either as a starter or a reliever, and outfielder Brian Goodwin at No. 34.
Yesterday was the one-year anniversary of the launch of this very website, SB Nation D.C. It was also the one-year anniversary of the day that Harper became a National. The website launch coincidentally happened to coincide with the 2010 MLB Draft, and all of this sites' writers and editors were gathered at a bar in Chinatown to celebrate. As it turned out, we weren't just celebrating the site; we were also celebrating yet another young phenom coming to Washington. At the time, I remember sharing a laugh with a fellow editor that we may have been the only bar in the country applauding a pick in the MLB Draft. Now it seems so much bigger.
We weren't just applauding a solitary moment in Washington baseball history. We were applauding the future. We were applauding the potential for greatness. We were pre-applauding. Preplauding.
We didn't know then, but now the Nationals look like they could be potential contenders within the next few years, once Strasburg is fully recovered from his injury and Harper enters the major league. Now Orioles fans are wondering if the Nationals are for real.
The Orioles are stuck in the middle. They're in a division that they have no chance of winning, yet they're never bad enough to get the first overall draft pick, which the Nationals were fortunate enough to "earn" the past two years. We shouldn't be surprised if we start to see more and more Orioles fans getting more and more curious about the Nationals.
Supporting a winner will be fun. The potential is there. As the Nationals' numerous prospects continue to develop, we'll soon learn if that potential can become a reality.pete in the next few years.

Bryce Harper blows a kiss at pitcher

Bryce Harper's first year of professional baseball has had its share of highs and lows -- sometimes on the same play.

The Washington Nationals outfield prospect had another of those moments on Monday night, blowing a kiss to the opposing pitcher after hitting a home run in Hagerstown's 3-2 loss to Greensboro in the Class A South Atlantic League.

With the game scoreless in the sixth inning, Harper hit a home run to right-center field and took a few seconds to admire his handiwork from the batters' box before slowly tossing his bat aside and heading to first.

Greensboro pitcher Zach Neal apparently didn't care for Harper's display and let Harper know how he felt as he rounded the bases, according to media reports. Harper replied by puckering up in Neal's direction as he reached home plate.
On Harper's next trip to the plate, with Hagerstown trailing 3-2 in the eighth, Greensboro relief pitcher Grant Dayton backed Harper off the plate with a high and inside first pitch. Harper connected with the second, but his long fly ball was caught at the fence.

"I just missed it by an inch," Harper said, according to the Hagerstown Herald-Mail. "It was a curve up and I just missed it. I thought it was out ... I get it out and it ties the game up and gives us a chance to go extra innings."

Harper was on the cover of Sports Illustrated when he was 16 and accelerated his way into college, setting himself up to be the No. 1 overall pick by the Nationals in last year's draft. He signed a $9.9 million contract, the biggest payday for a drafted position player.

On ESPN's "SportsCenter," Baseball Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt -- who hit 548 career homers -- advised Harper to "tone it down and play the game."

"I would say Bryce, if you're going to hit a lot of 'em ... you'd better learn not to show up the pitcher because it's just going to get tougher and tougher on you if you watch your home runs," Schmidt said. "Just hit your home runs and hit 'em like you're used to hitting 'em, not like you're surprised when you hit one."

Asked what would happen if Harper had behaved in similar fashion in the majors, Schmidt said the benches would have likely cleared.

"I hate to bring this into it, but I would think at some point the game itself, the competition on the field, is going to have to figure out a way to police this young man," Schmidt said. "If indeed his manager won't, the game will end up taking care of it."

While some Nationals fans are clamoring for Harper to be promoted to the struggling major league team, much of Harper's game remains a work in progress.

"One of the biggest sins you can make is putting guys into position where they're going to fail early," said Doug Harris, who keeps a close in-person eye on Harper as the Nationals' director of player development. "We're really committed, but lay the blocks before we try to put in some chandeliers and some granite countertops. We want to make sure we've built a good foundation, not only on the field but in the clubhouse."

Harper validated Harris' point perfectly in a game last Thursday. While the headline will forever record that Harper hit his first walkoff homer with the Suns -- a two-run shot in the bottom of the 10th for a 9-8 win over Greenville -- the details reveal that earlier in the game he was twice erased from the bases by simple mistakes. He was picked off in the first inning, then got caught in a rundown in the fifth trying to advance on a ball in the dirt.