Bryce Harper, the Washington Nationals Second Rookie Phenom, Comes Out Swingin

Bryce Harper has been anointed the second coming. In terms of the Washington Nationals, that means the second coming of a phenom to the team, a year after the emergence of Stephen Strasburg from number one pick to big league sensation. Harper hopes to follow the same path that Strasburg blazed, minus of course the Tommy John surgery.

He entered his first Major League Spring Training game Monday with all the confidence in the world. Replacing Matt Stairs as a pinch runner in the fifth, Harper was assured that he would get at least one at bat. That first opportunity came in the seventh inning when he went to work against Taylor Tankersley, a tough throwing southpaw for the New York Mets. After fouling off the first offering, Tankersley went out and away from Harper, striking him out on three pitches.

The young rookie, through the luck of his teammates getting a couple of hits, made it up for a second at bat in the ninth inning, this time getting to face Ryota Igarashi. Harper this time went up to the plate not so full of energy and ready to swing at everything he saw. He took three pitches during the at bat, two called strikes and one ball that was high. Once more though, the rookie saw a tailing fastball allude his wood and he had been cut down swinging for the second time.

Harper went down swinging both times at bat, but it did little to shake the confidence of the young man selected number one in last year's baseball amateur draft. He answered the questions of reporters, and had what many would consider a seasoned veterans view of his first Major League experience. He understood that Spring Training is where players come to work out the rust in their games and that the whole thing is a process.

Like any great athlete, he was itching to get back out there and try again, which will most likely come today. He already had ideas of what he was doing wrong at the plate and was ready to take those lessons and put them to good use in the next game. Yes, Harper might not see the big club this season, but even in temporary defeat, you could see he is made of the right stuff.