About 12 hours ago at midnight, August 17, the deadline for 2010's draft picks to sign with the teams that selected them came and went. To be honest, aside from the Nats' addition of this year's top pick, Bryce Harper, I don't know a lot about the other players who've signed, but I'll do my best to give my opinion on them, as usual.
Now, to start with Harper himself. Washington must feel pretty lucky: for the second year in a row, they not only got the top pick, but the player they received is supposedly going to turn the franchise around and bring the Nationals to their first World Series championship and save the world and everything we heard about Stephen Strasburg last year. But wait...where's the hype? Why aren't we going crazy over this kid yet? It seems to have something to do with none other than Strasburg himself: last year's Next Big Thing said regarding Bryce, "If he doesn't want to play here," Stephen said, concerning Harper's as-of then unsigned contract, "then we don't want him here." So much for team spirit or welcoming the new kid. Now, after hearing about his high level of cockiness - not to mention his outrageous eye blackening that have many analysts drawing comparisons between him and KISS - I understand a little better, but the numbers don't lie: if this guy can match the numbers he put up in college, he'll be a regular phenom in the bigs. But if he can't win over his own fans, he's going to face a lot of pressure no matter where he goes, especially considering the positions he plays: he should see more time in the outfield than catching, since Ivan Rodriguez is still doing a good job, and the most notable player out of the infield is Roger Bernadina, but that'll still give him plenty of opportunities to shine.
The number 2 pick, Jameson Taillon, went to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Just like Strasburg (why is he now the standard when comparing draft picks?), he's a pitcher that's already being hailed as a savior: baseball website Fangraphs even called him "the next Josh Beckett", some pretty big cleats for an 18 year old to fill. My jealousy about a kid who's 2 years younger than me getting more money and fame than I'll ever garner because he can throw a baseball really well aside, he does already have some impressive accomplishments: he had a 22-6 record through high school, and even pitched a no-hitter a few months ago. It's likely, though, that his high school team had a stronger defense than the major league blooper-makers he'll be joining sometime next season. I just hope his conditioning through the minors doesn't produce the same caliber of mediocrity so commonplace in Pittsburgh.
As I said before, I haven't heard much about the other draft picks yet; something tells me that I'll be writing about them before too long, though.
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