As expected all eyes were on 18 year old phenom Bryce Harper as he took the field for the first time this spring.
Around a hundred fans as well as a handful of media members were on hand to watch Harper and he did not disappoint. Harper took roughly around 40 swings hitting most for line drives and sent 4 over the right field fence.
Also on hand to watch Harper were Nationals Assistant GM Bob Boone, farm director Doug Harris, adviser Pat Corrales and senior adviser Davey Johnson.
Following Harper’s practice Davey Johnson had the following to say “He is a special talent. There is no doubt about it,” Johnson then went on to also say “He has tremendous bat speed, his hand-eye coordination is outstanding and he is short to the ball. I really like his approach. He is very mature.”
Now I know a lot of fans will be wondering what this may mean as far as to when we will see Harper with the Nationals well Johnson predicted it would be sooner rather than later “I don’t want to put any pressure on him, but I think by the time he’s 19, he’ll probably have an at-bat or two in the major leagues,”
At the end of the day when we will see Harper in the majors will boil down to what he does in the minor leagues but a strong Spring Season could definitely help put the thought in Rizzo and Riggleman’s minds.
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