Posted Aug. 17, 2010 12:37 am by Nathan Rode Rest easy Washington. Bryce Harper has signed with the Nationals. The Las Vegas phenom, who's achievements almost seem like folklore has been tracked closely by the national media for the last year-plus. As expected, Harper signed moments before the midnight deadline. Like he did right before the draft, Harper gave a few minutes to Baseball America to answer some questions. BA: Are you glad it's all over? Harper: I'm really thankful for everything I have right now. My family being around me, the support I've gotten from them. I'm thankful for the Nationals and what they've brought me. I'm just really excited to get out there playing and show everyone what I can do. I'm excited. BA: Was the signing process stressful? Harper: Not really. Actually it wasn't stressful at all. I spent my time at the beach a lot and you can't be stressed out on the beach. I spent a lot time with my family and in the gym just trying to get bigger and stronger. I'm just glad everything got done. BA: What did you do all summer? Harper: I didn't play at all. I took BP and kept my arm strength up and took some fly balls in the outfield. Just trying to get stronger and better in every aspect of my game. Like I said I spent a lot of time with my family. I spent a lot of time with my brother because he's at South Carolina now. That was the biggest thing for me this summer. Just trying to keep my mom's home-cooked meals in me because I'm gonna miss that a lot. I had a lot of fun at the beach. BA: What's next? Are you headed to a league assignment? Harper: I haven't really talked to them much about that. I won't go to a league at all. I'll go to instructs and they're talking about Arizona Fall League this fall. I'm just taking it by stride right now and see what they want to do. I'm going to Washington next week, getting all settled there, getting my jersey and things like that and meet with the team. I'll be hitting BP up there next week hopefully. http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/draft/?p=2886 ----- Chambers: Harper is "good enough to be in majors in 24 months" By Byron Kerr, August 17, 2010 12:29 AM With the Nationals signing their No. 1 overall selection Bryce Harper, his college coach, Tim Chambers, said the Nats are getting the "greatest amateur baseball player of all time". Jim Callis of Baseball America called him the best hitting prospect he had ever seen at the amateur level. A source with knowledge of the situation says Harper is expected to first play in the instructional league and then go to the prestigious Arizona Fall League, the same league Stephen Strasburg played in last season after signing with the Nationals. The 17-year old Harper hit .443 at the College of Southern Nevada in his lone collegiate season, setting school records with 31 homers and 98 RBI. The previous season, the Coyotes had hit only 17 homers as a team. He guided Southern Nevada to an appearance in the JUCO World Series and won the Golden Spikes award as the nation's best amateur player. Chambers believes Harper is good enough to be playing in the majors in 24 months. He said, "Bryce can really, really hit. He thinks he can hit anybody. He can hit balls for home runs." The Nationals plan to convert Harper to the outfield to get his bat to the majors faster and show off his arm strength. Chambers feels Harper will be able to transition from catcher to outfielder, saying, "he didn't get a lot of time in the outfield with us, as much as he needed, but he is very athletic. With game time and batting practices, seeing balls off bats, he will learn quickly. "I felt like we could put him any place on field and after one month he would be the best out there on defense. He will figure it out in the outfield. He will make an easy transition." http://www.masnsports.com/byron_kerr/2010/08/chambers-harper-is-greatest -amateur-player-of-all-time.html http://is.gd/elaAk ------- CSN news http://www.csnwashington.com/pages/video?PID=st3CXkJ5XGALTy6mEL3IMVLivkL_VQsi --

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