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Washington Nationals vs New York Mets: Spring Training GameThread/Bryce Harper Spring Debut Thread.

By Patrick Reddington
Lineup card for the 2/28/10 Washington Nationals' 2011 Spring opener vs the New York Mets. (photo courtesy of <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/nationalsPR" target="new">@NationalsPR</a> on Twitter.)
Lineup card for the 2/28/10 Washington Nationals' 2011 Spring opener vs the New York Mets. (photo courtesy of @NationalsPR on Twitter.)

• Washington Nationals' Spring Opener Lineup Live from Port St. Lucie, Florida's Digital Domain Park: 

  1. NMISMH - Nyjer Morgan - CF
  2. Ian "Franking" Desmond - SS
  3. The Shark - LF
  4. The People's Champion Michael Morse - RF
  5. Matt "Eyeblack is so HS" Stairs - DH
  6. Wilson "Dukes of Lizards" Ramos - C
  7. Kevin Barker? - 1B
  8. Danny "Spinner" Espinosa - 2B
  9. Jerry Hairston, Jr. - 3B
  10. Chad Gaudin - SP
And coming off the bench at some point this afternoon to face Mike Pelfrey and the 2011 New York Mets...Bryce Harper!! Nats' Skipper Jim Riggleman's promised to get the Nats' 2010 No.1 overall pick into the game this afternoon. It's not his MLB debut, but Nats fans might have to wait two years for that, so Harper's ST debut, after leaving high school, earning his GED, dominating junior college, getting picked no.1 in the draft, blowing up in the AFL, it's all led to this. Bryce Harper vs the Mets at some point this afternoon...

• Quick Bryce Harper Recap: As a then-17-year-old College of Southern Nevada freshman, Bryce Harper hit .443 (101-for-228) with 23 doubles, four triples, 31 home runs, 98 RBI's, 39 walks and 20 stolen bases in 66 games played before he was selected with the no.1 pick overall in the 2010 MLB First-Year Player Draft by the Washington Nationals.

After signing a 5-year/$9.9M dollar major league deal in the moments before the deadline for signing 2010 picks passed last August, Harper first reported to the Florida Instructional League where he hit .319 (15-for-47) with four doubles, a triple, four homers, 12 RBI's and seven walks to lead Washington's Instructional League roster in HR's, RBI's, walks, OBP at .407 and SLG .702. The next step was the Arizona Fall League, where Harper, playing two games a week as part of the Scottsdale Scorpion's "taxi" squad, hit in of 12 for 35 at bats for a .343 AVG, with a .410 OBP, .629 SLG, three doubles, two triples, one HR, seven RBI's, four walks, 11 K's and one stolen base in 9 games. 

Now it's Harper's debut against MLB competition. He's coming off the bench today, and according to reports on Twitter this morning, he's going to get one AB this afternoon and that's likely to be it: 

• Washington Post's Adam Kilgore @AdamKilgoreWP on Twitter: "Jim Riggleman says Bryce Harper will not play the field today. One ab and out."

But there's still another chance to get a look at Wilson Ramos. Jesus Flores is on the bench today and expected to play. No list of pitchers available as of 11:17 am, but today's game might provide some with a glimpse of one or more of the power arms D.C. GM Mike Rizzo's assembled this Spring. 

• 1:10 pm EST on MLB.tv or SNY if you're outside the DC area...Who's Watching the Nationals?

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