Opinion

On Monday, the Washington Nationals will draft Bryce Harper, a “once in a generation” hitting prospect with their first overall pick in the 2010 amateur draft. On Tuesday, Stephen Strasburg, last year’s top pick and a “once in a generation” pitching prospect, will take the mound in his first ever major league game.

To borrow a phrase from former Redskins’ head coach George Allen: "The future is now."

The NBA draft is always a much anticipated extravaganza, while the NFL’s selections are so heavily scrutinized that they’ve been thrust into prime time.

On the eve of the 2010 MLB draft, baseball has yet to experience similar success with its entry draft and there are plenty of reasons that explain why.

First, there’s a sense of immediacy to the NBA and NFL drafts, respectively. The high picks, in most cases (sans a few quarterbacks), will play right away.

As a franchise, firing your manager signals two things to your fan base:

1)       This season marks the beginning of our quest to rebuild frantically in order to use it as an excuse for our inevitable suckdom.

A part of my childhood died Wednesday.

No, my dog didn’t pass away. My mother didn’t give away the stuffed bear my parents bought for me the day I was brought into this world. And my trophy collection is still intact on the shelves of my West Chester bedroom. Nonetheless, I felt as if any one of those things had actually happened.

Everyone talks about the top 10 and first round picks, but what have been the best hidden gems in the Major League Baseball Draft’s last 45 years or so?

From Albert Pujols (13th Round) to Mike Piazza (62nd Round) to Andy Pettitte (22nd Round), many superstars have been discovered well after being part of hundreds—if not thousands—of other players.

So, who’s in my personal top 10 list of under-the-radar, hidden gems in the past 45 years of MLB Drafts?

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A few years ago, the New York Mets had a sensational, up and coming player in their minor league system.

That player is Nick Evans .

The Red Sox were in a huge rut as they started the 2010 year 4-9.

The highly touted pitching staff, which was expected to carry this team, struggled mightly. And the offense didn't do much at the plate.

There was talk of trading David Ortiz, or just giving up on the year at end of April.

But since the sluggish start, the Sox are the hottest team in baseball. Four players in particular have heavily impacted Boston's recent successs.

These four contributors deserve all-star votes.

The writing is on the wall. The precedent has been set...twice. The only question remaining is: When?

The Milwaukee Brewers have a decision to make, and there are rumors swirling that they may be making that decision during an internal management meeting scheduled for today.

The timing works. The Brewers have an off-day tomorrow after yet another disappointing run of games. As I write this, they've lost five of six on this road trip including an extra inning affair yesterday.

The 1968 season pitched by St. Louis Cardinal's ace Bob Gibson (22-9 , 1.12 ERA, 268 strikeouts, 0.853 WHIP, Cy Young, and MVP)  is the standard of supremacy that every pitcher aspires to match. (Where was Gibson's run support that caused him to lose nine games with that earned run average?!?! )

I'm a Braves fan.  I've been one since the early 90s.  In my lifetime of enjoying Braves baseball, you can't say much about the team's success without mentioning Chipper Jones in the same sentence.

At 38 years old, we all know the decline is rapidly picking up speed.  It shows on the injury sheet.  It shows in the stat line.

Chipper is batting .240 this season with 1 HR and 21 RBI.  He's slugging almost 200 points less than his career average and his OBP is drops year after year.