Majors moment arrives for Harper

The story goes like this: Two years ago, as College of Southern Nevada's baseball team was winning its way into the Junior College World Series, then-Coyotes coach Tim Chambers would sit in the dugout and often wonder to a visitor:

"Look at him," Chambers would say. "He's 17. He's 17 and handling all this pressure like it's nothing. What were you doing when you were 17? I was 135 pounds and a moron."

Bryce Harper has always been ahead of his time, so why should reaching the major leagues faster than anyone expected be different?

It all led to this. The cover of Sports Illustrated, and being named baseball's next chosen star. The decision to depart Las Vegas High following his sophomore season and enroll at CSN. The selection by Washington as a No. 1 overall draft pick. The $9.9 million contract.

To tonight. To this moment.

Harper will make his major league debut against the Dodgers in Los Angeles, promoted from Triple-A Syracuse on Friday when mounting injuries forced the Nationals to call up their prized prospect earlier than imagined.

"This was not the coming-out party for Bryce that we had in mind," Washington general manager Mike Rizzo told reporters. "This isn't the optimal situation developmentally. ... We still have a very good and committed developmental plan for Bryce in place. I still believe very passionately in the plan, and am committed to it. But it was expedited by the circumstances."

I am guessing he is referring not only to Harper's age, but mostly to a .250 batting average and one home run in Syracuse this early season, to bringing what was one of the most heralded amateur players in history into a clubhouse of a team with the best record in the National League and all the attention that will occur from it.

But is there ever a perfect time for such a move? What top draft pick of Harper's stature hasn't been, at some level, underdeveloped and overhyped? The game's history is filled with can't-miss prospects who either overcame or collapsed under the collective weight of expectations.

It's on Harper now to go one way or the other.

The good news is that he will play. Every day. Win or lose. He might only be with the Nationals until third baseman Ryan Zimmerman comes off the disabled list or one of their banged- up outfielders also heals, but Rizzo was insistent the opportunity will include plenty of at-bats and time in left field.

The Nationals, who have received a combined batting average of .097 from their left-fielders this season, need a power left-handed bat right now. They want to win right now. They will do anything it takes right now.

Harper is the choice. They are hoping the opposite of Roy Hobbs can make it work and shatter a few scoreboard clocks.

Or at least hit his weight and drive in some runs.

Rob Miech was the visitor who sat with Chambers throughout that 2010 season, who listened as the coach marveled at how a 17-year old dealt with such incredible daily hype, who chronicled Harper's every move at CSN in his book, "The Last Natural," scheduled to be released June 5.

"(Harper) won't go bananas or loony over any of this," Miech said. "He will handle the promotion like business as usual. The media attention won't be anything he hasn't already dealt with for years. He won't be shell-shocked or do backflips. This is a very smart, clever kid who picks things up quickly.

"The fact he's opening on the West Coast in Dodger Stadium will make things even more comfortable for him. He has been there often, walked around the home clubhouse. They will all know him. He was always given the red-carpet treatment there. Two years later, here he is. It's a special day for him and his family, but I'm sure he will show up, go to work, learn and do what he always does. He will figure it all out."

Stephen Strasburg will be on the mound for Washington tonight. He was the No. 1 overall pick a year before Harper and is also of the can't-miss variety. Vin Scully will call Harper's first at-bat in the bigs, which will take place some five hours from the player's hometown.

How fitting it all worked out this way.

Could a better script be written than the one playing out tonight just up the road from Hollywood?

Bryce Harper has arrived in the majors.

He's 19.

Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ed Graney can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He can be heard from noon to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday on "Gridlock," ESPN 1100 and 98.9 FM. Follow him on Twitter: @edgraney.