The Washington Nationals today selected College of Southern Nevada outfielder Bryce Harper with the first-overall selection in the 2010 First-Year Player Draft. Nationals Senior Vice President & General Manager Mike Rizzo, Nationals Assistant General Manager & Vice President of Player Personnel Roy Clark and Nationals Director of Scouting Kris Kline made the joint announcement. Harper--who stands 6-foot-3, 205 lbs. and hails from Las Vegas--hit .443 (101-for-228) with 23 doubles, four...

The Orioles tonight selected SS Manny Machado of Brito Private High School (FL) with their first selection in the 2010 First Year Player Draft, the third overall pick of the draft. Machado, 17, is a 6-foot-2, 180-pound shortstop from Miami, FL. In his senior season he batted .639 (55-86) with 12 home runs and 56 RBI, adding 43 runs scored, 27 doubles and 17 stolen bases. In the summer of 2009, Machado helped lead USA Baseball's 18 & Under team to a gold medal in Venezuela in the Pan American...

So how will Stephen Strasburg do in his first major league start tonight at sold out Nats Park? Should we expect a win, 15 strikeouts and only one earned run? Will he struggle against major league hitters and lose? Jim Callis of Baseball America says let's not put too much pressure on the rookie, but he does give his prediction for what might happen with Strasburg this year and next season. "That is the thing with Strasburg that is going to be tough. I think everyone is expecting...

To celebrate the arrival of Stephen Strasburg, Nats Buzz will be collecting and posting the best tweets about the phenom. Check back throughout the day as we continue to update it -- and be sure to follow the MASNsports.com team (@masnben, @bkerr32, @masnsports, @khudak11, @jenroylemasn and @rdibs49) for the latest news on "Strasmas." Strasburg and Nats are already trending in Washington. Strasburg is also trending nationally and he's one of CNN's most intriguing people of the...

I woke up this morning feeling older than usual, knowing that the Astros selected Delino DeShield's son last night with the eighth overall pick in the first-year draft. Bop Jr. was just another kid hanging around the Orioles' clubhouse after games. Now he's going to play professional ball. The years keep flying by. If only I could figure out a way to slow them down a little. It's always interesting in any draft to see which players pull a Brady Quinn and tumble down the board...

Well, with all the stories I have written in the last week or so on the draft, believe it or not, in reviewing some of my notes, I actually found some comments from scouting director Joe Jordan that I have not yet published. So let's clean out this quote book once and for all. I asked Jordan if he expects to sign players to over-slot contracts as the O's did with a few picks in the 2009 draft? "I expect to have the ability to do whatever we feel like we need to do. There is a budget,...

Nationals selection of Bryce Harper as the top pick in the amateur draft could be one for the ages. In Bryce's only season at the junior college level, he set almost every major school record at the College of Southern Nevada, batting .443, including 31 homers and 98 RBI. The Coyotes hit 17 homers AS A TEAM in 2009. How good will Bryce Harper be and when could he make his major league debut with the Nationals? Jim Callis, Executive Editor at Baseball America had some strong words to...

After he had about 25 people over to watch the draft, where he was selected with the third overall pick by the Orioles, shortstop Manny Machado took part in a telephone conference call interview with Orioles reporters tonight. Here are the questions he got and his answers: Q: What was today like for you and did you think you would be drafted by the O's? Machado: "I was just here, hanging out with my family, sitting around, waiting for my name to be pronounced over the TV. It was a great...

Joe Jordan, the Orioles' director of scouting, referred to first-round pick Manny Machado as a "target guy" for the organization all spring who automatically has become "one of our premiere prospects." "We're very excited with tonight's selection," Jordan said during a conference call with reporters. "We feel very fortunate. I had my interaction with Manny Machado this spring and it's been very enjoyable to watch how he plays the game, the energy. Nothing is made up here. He loves...

Grow the bats? The Orioles drifted away from their pitching-first philosophy in the amateur draft tonight by taking Florida prep shortstop Manny Machado, 17, with the third overall pick. Their intention became one of the worst-kept secrets in baseball once reports surfaced earlier today that the Pirates would select Texas prep pitcher Jameson Taillon with the second pick. The Orioles would have snatched Taillon with gusto if he remained on the board when their turn came up. Not that they're...