Confident Harper puts on show

Photo by Mark Zuckerman / NATS INSIDER

Bryce Harper was at ease during his introductory press conference.

Bryce Harper sat in front of a overflowing room of reporters, cameras, family members and Nationals executives and looked and acted like anything but a 17-year-old kid wearing a big-league jersey for the first time.

Then again, Harper hardly looked his age as he was peppering the Nationals Park bleachers with home runs during batting practice two hours earlier.

Guess there's a reason the Nationals drafted the talented and cocksure kid first in the country in June and then gave him a $9.9 million, major-league contract 10 days ago.

"We feel that he's going to be a cornerstone of the organization, on and off the field," Mike Rizzo said today in introducing Harper.

It will likely be two or three years before Harper returns to Nationals Park as a big leaguer, so there's no way to know yet whether he'll live up to the hype. He'll head to Viera, Fla., in the next week to begin working out with rookie Gulf Coast League players, then will play in the Florida instructional league and possibly the Arizona Fall League.

But if Harper's first round of BP in the District was any indication, there's going to be a lot of jaw-dropping in these parts around 2012 or 2013.

Read my full account of Harper's first day in D.C. on CSNwashington.com.