Best of the Decade: Nationals draft Bryce Harper

As the Nationals celebrate 10 seasons in Washington, D.C., we reflect on some of the best moments since the franchise moved to the nation's capital. Each Wednesday through mid-August, check out Nationals Pastime for a remembrance of one of the watershed moments in Nationals history.

Patience is rarely paid much attention in the world of sports. In the case of Bryce Harper, it never really existed.

Most No. 1 overall picks in baseball aren't household names due the lack of media attention given to the sport at the amateur level compared to football and basketball.

Not Harper. He was a phenomenon long before the Nationals made him the top selection in 2010 First-Year Player Draft as a 17-year old out of a Nevada junior college.

A year earlier, Harper graced the cover of Sports Illustrated labeled as "Baseball's Chosen One, the most exciting prodigy since LeBron." The story of his teenage years, mashing 500-foot homers, reads almost as legend.

Harper played just two years at a Las Vegas high school, batting .612 with 25 homers and 112 RBIs, before opting to skip his final two years in favor of passing the GED. The move was made to accelerate Harper's path to eligibility for the major league draft.

To prove himself further, Harper chose to play at the College of Southern Nevada, a junior college that plays in a league using wooden bats. Harper, a catcher, hit .443/.526/.987 while crushing 31 home runs in 66 games. The school's previous record for homers was 12. Harper led Southern Nevada to the Junior College World Series, where he blasted four homers and had 10 RBIs in the regional championship game.

"Good things come to those who wait" can be a tiresome phrase, especially in professional sports. The nation's capital had waited more than 30 years for baseball to return, however, after the fanfare wore off, the realization of a bad product on the field set in. But a 102-loss season in 2008 allowed the Nationals to land the most coveted amateur pitcher in years in pitcher Stephen Strasburg. And baseball's worst record in 2009 set the table for them to add Harper, dubbed the "next Mickey Mantle".

"It was a pretty easy decision," Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo told reporters after drafting Harper. The challenge came in signing the hyped young slugger, whose representation came from Scott Boras, one of baseball's toughest agents, someone known for protracted talks with clubs that went right down to the deadline.

Both sides took the negotiations down to the final seconds before reaching an agreement moments before the midnight deadline on Aug. 16, 2010. The last-minute, five-year major league contract guaranteed Harper $9.9 million, the highest bonus ever for a position player out of the draft.

Seven days later, Harper was introduced at an open press conference at Nationals Park. Ryan Zimmerman, the team's best player, handed Harper his No. 34 jersey.

"I always loved Mickey Mantle," Harper told reporters asking why he chose No. 34. "Three and four equals seven."

That same day, Harper launched homers over the bullpens during his first round of batting practice in what would become his ballpark for years to come.

"It felt like home," Harper said to reporters. "It was a blast going out there. Hitting on a pro field is always fun. I'm like a kid in a candy store. To hit one in the upper deck is fun."

Harper leaped to the majors in 2012, winning National League Rookie of the Year honors after batting .270, smacking 22 homers and scoring a team-high 98 runs.

Harper's sophomore campaign included 20 more home runs and a second All-Star appearance, but nagging injuries forced him to the disabled list for extended periods.

More uncommon medical issues caused him to miss 62 games last season and led Harper to be named baseball's most overrated player as voted on by his peers for the second consecutive season.

Midway through his fourth season, at only 22, Harper is finally healthy and making a charge at history on a torrid pace. Harper is batting .339 (second in the National League) with 26 home runs (second) and 61 RBIs (fourth). He leads the majors in on-base percentage (.464), slugging percentage (.704) and OPS (1.168).

Harper's dynamic personality, which accompanies his ferocious style of play, drove this year's NL's All-Star fan vote to a level never previously reached.

With his health issues behind him, most believe that's where Harper's game is headed.

"The hidden ceiling that I have in my mind, I've never made public," Rizzo said earlier this season. "He's going to be a good player, we feel, for a very long time."

* Miss any of the memorable moments we're highlighting from Nationals history? Here's the list to date:

No. 10: 10-game winning streaks in 2005, 2014
No. 9: Mr. Walk-Off started it all on Father's Day 2006
No. 8: Nationals return to the postseason in 2014
No. 7: Zimmerman's walk-off welcomes Nats to new home
No. 6: Zimmermann's no-hitter to end 2014 regular season