Bryce Harper

Bryce Harper is too good to pass up. For the Washington Nationals, who hold the first pick in Monday's Rule 4 First-Year Player Draft, it really is that simple. Once you get past the hype, the caterwauling about Harper daring to give up his junior prom and the anonymous sniping about his "makeup" or his swing, you are left with this: The kid is 17 years old with freakish bat speed and the kind of left-handed power that is rare in the big leagues.

The Nationals, who own the first pick for the second straight draft, are positioned for franchise-turning back-to-back days next week. On Monday they are expected to draft Harper. On Tuesday they will give the ball to Stephen Strasburg for his major-league debut. Strasburg, a right-handed pitcher and the team's No. 1 pick last year, is 21 years old.

"The greatest commodity in the game is power," says agent Scott Boras, who represents both players. "Power arms and power hitters."

Suddenly the Nats are loaded with excitement, a tremendous turnaround for the least-watched team in baseball last year (their home telecasts attracted only about 12,000 households). Of course, the Nationals still will have to sign Harper -- this after handing over a record $15.1 million package to Strasburg last year.

Harper does figure to sign at some point. He is a baseball rat who needs to be playing, for one. For another, he figures to have no better leverage if he goes into the draft again next year -- he can't improve on being the first overall pick, he loses millions by deferring his major league service another year, and he may be faced with less bargaining power next year.

MLB is bound and determined to include some form of a slotting system for draft bonuses in the next Collective Bargaining Agreement. Those changes, if they can be successfully negotiated with the union, would go into place for the 2012 draft. That would leave 2011 as the last chance to break the bank on bonus money, which means that high picks such as Harper would be under pressure to sign in 2011 before the changes go into effect.

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After all the complaining that the kid should have stayed in high school, Harper seems to have done just fine with the plan Boras mapped out for him about three years ago: leave high school after sophomore year, obtain a General Equivalency Degree, enroll in junior college and become eligible for the draft in what otherwise would have been his junior year in high school.

Boras says he told Harper a few years ago, "This is the only way I can get you to be understood."

Had Harper remained in high school, he would have been bored by rarely getting any pitches to hit, and his skills might have gone underappreciated by pro scouts. They could have questioned his competition and wondered if he could hit with a wood bat.