Nationals doing it right: First Stratsburg, now Harper

The NBA had LeBron James in 2003. The NHL had Sidney Crosby in 2005. And now in 2010, Major League Baseball has found its "chosen one" - Bryce Harper.
The Harper legend has been growing for quite some time. His parents first realized that they may have a prodigy on their hands after hearing how well he performed at a travel league tournament against children three-years older than him that they could not attend. His coach called afterwards to let them know Bryce had hits in all 12 at bats, including 11 for homeruns.
When he was 15 he hit a homerun that was measured at a jaw dropping 570 feet in a high school ball park. To add to the spectacle that is Bryce Harper, he hit the longest homerun in the history of Tropicana Field in Tampa Bay during a 2009 International Power Showcase with a 502 foot absolute bomb that quickly became a YouTube sensation.
In his final season at his Las Vegas high school, the catcher posted a .626 batting average, numbers that are better suited for a Sunday afternoon slow-pitch league.
He was also the first sophomore ever to be named to Baseball America's All-American team and has already graced the cover of Sports Illustrated.
On June 7, the inevitable happened - Harper was selected first overall to the Washington Nationals.
By the way, all of this has occurred before his 18th birthday.
While he should have been too young to enter this summer's draft, Bryce and his family found a loophole and he completed his General Equivalency Diploma, allowing him to enter the draft a year in advance.
After a premature end to his high school career, he enrolled in the College of Southern Nevada where he continued to rip it up with a .442 batting average, swatted 29 home runs, scored 88 runs and collected 89 RBI's in just 62 games.
He has been compared to Alex Rodriguez, Ken Griffey Jr., Daryl Strawberry and Mickey Mantle and most scouts will tell you that he is more complete and developed player than all of them at the same age.
His potential appears to be limitless at the plate. Out in the field, his job description will likely include catching blazing fastballs from the other Nationals hype-king, Steven Strasburg.
Unlike other professional sports, even the best prospects spend a significant amount of time in the minors before reaching the MLB. So few have the physical maturity to make the early jump into a league that is so dependent on a specific set of skills. However, having defied the norm up to this point, he may end up being the exception to the rule.
It's far too early to predict what type of career young Harper will have or even when he will debut, but it will definitely be fun to watch how it all unfolds.
The future is promising for the currently lowly Nationals - look no further than Steven Strasburg's brilliant first start with the club.