After another big spring at the plate, Harper is ready to go

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - While Max Scherzer scrambles to build his arm up over the final week of spring training and Daniel Murphy scrambles to get as many at-bats as he can and Matt Wieters tries to get his body ready for the rigors of a full season behind the plate, there's at least one player in Nationals camp who clearly doesn't need any more prep time before the regular season.

Bryce Harper is good to go.

"He told me three or four days ago he was ready," manager Dusty Baker said.

Harper had a slightly different take on the matter, suggesting he's had enough of the monotony of spring training.

"I think it's just more not wanting to play anymore down here," he said. "So just trying to get my work in when I can and do the things I can to get to D.C. Biggest thing: just trying to stay healthy and get up there."

The Nationals might be wise to stick Harper in some bubble wrap right now and ship him north with the rest of their luggage, so he'll be waiting for them when they land in Washington late Thursday night.

There's nothing left for the 24-year-old slugger to accomplish in Florida this spring. With three games to go in the Grapefruit League, he's merely batting .308 with a .403 on-base percentage, 1.230 OPS and eight home runs (tops among all major league players this spring).

Harper put a decisive stamp on his spring Monday afternoon in Port St. Lucie, crushing a pair of homers to lead the Nationals to a 6-0 victory over the Mets.

"Just trying to have good at-bats," he said, falling into a cliché he has repeated numerous times over the last six weeks. "That's the biggest thing for me. I'm trying to get good at-bats, good ABs and get out of here healthy."

Productive Marches are nothing new for Harper. In seven springs with the Nationals - yeah, this is already his seventh career spring training, believe it or not - he has finished with an OPS of at least .950 five times.

And typically he has carried over that spring success into the regular season. His career OPS in April is 1.009, highest of any month. He has clubbed nine or more homers in a month four times in his career, and two of those have come in April (2013, 2015).

After Monday's two-homer performance, Baker was asked if he would rather Harper start saving these up for the regular season.

"No," the manager replied. "I want him to perfect that."

Sure looks like Harper already has.