Nationals likely to take Bryce Harper with first overall pick in 2010 MLB draft

It didn't come as much of a shock that Nationals General Manager Mike Rizzo told MASN in an interview Sunday that the organization likely would select College of Southern Nevada catcher Bryce Harper with the first overall pick in Monday's MLB first-year player draft. Harper has seemed the obvious choice for quite some time, and Rizzo has said in recent weeks that the team had its mind made up.

When asked by MASN whether Harper was Washington's choice for the No. 1 pick, Rizzo responded: "Well, he's towards the top of the list. We haven't made our final, final decision yet, but we're leaning towards him. He's a terrific talent, and unless something changes between now and the draft, he's most likely our guy."

Asked earlier Sunday in an interview with a group of reporters whether he would reveal the player Washington planned to pick No. 1 overall, Rizzo declined.

"No, we're not prepared to do that yet," Rizzo said. "We're going to keep the suspense until tomorrow night. It's just not fair to the other players that are possibilities, so we're going to keep that under wraps. It's not the biggest secret in the world, but we feel that until we make the pick, things change often up to the draft time."