Bryce Harper steals Home

That explains so much interest in Washington Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper, who is now hitting .261 with no home runs, three RBIs and a .378 on-base percentage in barely a week as a big leaguer.

Forget the small sample size of statistics. Harper has been in the public consciousness since appearing on the Sports Illustrated cover at the age of 16.

Now just 19, the 6-foot-3, 215-pound Harper is a player people can't stop watching. That comes with the territory of being a true phenom.

Instead of being swallowed by the suffocating expectations, Harper is having a blast.

"I am way more comfortable here than in the minor leagues," Harper said after going 0-for-4 with a walk in Saturday's 7-1 win over the Phillies at Nationals Park. "I feel like in the minors I was trying to prove and prove and prove I belonged in the big leagues."

After he was selected with the first overall pick in the 2010 Major League Baseball First Year Player Draft, many observers predicted it would take Harper less than two years to reach the big leagues.

Being taken first doesn't guarantee instant success. For instance, the 2008 No. 1 pick, Tim Beckham of Tampa Bay, recently was suspended a second time for violating the minor league drug program. Just in the last decade, players such as Matt Bush and Bryan Bullington were considered No. 1 overall washouts.

Harper falls in the category of Ken Griffey Jr. or Alex Rodriguez in terms of hype and expectation. Whether Harper ever rises to the level of Griffey or ARod remains to be seen.

It should be fun to watch, though.

Harper earned his promotion when current franchise cornerstone Ryan Zimmerman was placed on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to April 21 due to shoulder inflammation.

"He's pretty good," Zimmerman said of Harper.

Then the Nationals third baseman expanded on those comments.

"The best thing we all noticed here when he gets in those big situations, you can kind of tell who has it and who doesn't, and he stays calm," Zimmerman said.

It seems as if opponents are buying into the hype. In the Nationals' first two wins in this three-game series, Harper was walked four times.

"He's getting a lot of respect for only being here a couple of days," Nationals manager Davey Jonson said. "They are pitching him tough, even behind in the count they are throwing him a lot of off-speed stuff."