My MLB Draft (The Hunt for Bryce Harper)

So in all my rush to write about the NBA's looming free agency and draft I completely forgot that Major League Baseball has it's own draft this time of year. Of course this is the least heralded of drafts out of our major sports, but that shouldn't downplay the significance or importance, especially in this draft.

The Washington Nationals, who just last year selected college phenom Stephen Strasburg (who is on the eve of making his first major league start June 8) picked again this year and selected another extremely talented and young prospect. This person will take a little longer to get to the big leagues than Strasburg has partly because he is a position player, his skills are still a little raw, oh and because he's 17. Bryce Harper, who plays catcher for his community college baseball team graduated high school two years early and is now officially a Washington National. At least it will be official once he signs his contract.

The Nationals are more than likely going to be putting Harper in the outfield to accelerate the pace in which it takes him to make to the major leagues, as a catcher it would take more time. This really is pretty crazy when you think about it, when I was 17 I was still staring down another year and a half of high school and would've probably gotten out of breath just trying to run to first base. Harper will probably take anywhere from 3-5 years to actually make it to the Nationals, but even then he will be in his very early twenties and have a hopefully very long career ahead of him.

In other baseball news my S.F. Giants won today, beating the Cincinnati Reds 6-5. Barry Zito pitched into the 6th inning but reliever Sergio Romo got the win to move to 2-3 in his bullpen work. I won't go into too much detail about the game but the Giants have now won 9 of their last 13 games and Closer Brian Wilson recorded his 15th save in 17 chances.

Oh and the Oakland Athletics, with the 10th pick in the draft selected Michael Choice, outfielder from Texas/Arlington and the Giants picked Gary Brown, a centerfielder from Cal State - Fullerton. Neither choices were exactly front page news, but a couple years from now who knows?

Next Up...Game 3 of the NBA Finals