Harper used to hype, pressure

Scores of fans arrived three hours before the first pitch of Thursday night's game between the Harrisburg Senators and the Flying Squirrels just to catch a glimpse of Bryce Harper, the man Sports Illustrated glorified as "Baseball's Chosen One."

Others raced to the end of the tunnel under The Diamond, where the Senators' bus was parked, hoping to get an autograph. Members of the media set up camp in the visiting dugout, waiting for Harper to emerge from the clubhouse and hoping to capture his image for the 11 o'clock news.

It was just another day at the office for Harper, an 18-year-old Washington Nationals prospect. Every city he visits, he's met with adoring fans and the renewed pressure to live up to his name and his $10 million contract.

But he takes it in stride.

"It's been happening forever," Harper said. "It's really nothing new."

Across the field in the other dugout, Squirrels second baseman Charlie Culberson watched the media circus surrounding Harper and wondered, "Would I even want this kind of attention?"

In the end, Culberson decided, it's probably worth it. Yes, Harper deals with unparalleled pressure to succeed, but that kind of pressure is put on only those who are supremely talented.

"If that's happening to me, obviously that's a good thing," Culberson said. "I think it'd be kind of cool. After a while, I'm sure it's not easy."

The Nationals made Harper the first pick of the 2010 draft. But for just about every other high-ranking draft pick, the hoopla dies quickly.

The Giants selected Culberson in the supplemental round — between the first and second rounds — of the 2007 first-year player draft. Out of Calhoun High School in Georgia, Culberson was the 51st overall pick.

"No one cares about me being drafted in the supplemental round out of high school," Culberson said. "No one."

Culberson says he has the same goal as his 23 teammates: Just get to the majors.

The excitement of draft day "is over and done with," he said. "You sign, you get your chances, you just roll with it. At the end of the day, you can't really think about it."

Harper and Culberson became friends last fall when they were teammates on the Scottsdale Scorpions of the Arizona Fall League. Harper would later say that Culberson took him under his wing and helped guide him through his first foray into professional baseball.

"You'd think he'd go out there and showboat," Culberson said. "He doesn't. He'll hit a base hit into the outfield and he's halfway to second just rounding the bag. He's always full speed."

Deck McGuire, a Deep Run High School and Georgia Tech alumnus, is in his first year of professional baseball and says the pressure of being a first-round draft pick already has faded.

McGuire, a 6-foot-6 right-handed pitcher, was the 11th pick of the 2010 draft. He currently pitches for the Dunedin Blue Jays, an advanced Class-A team for Toronto. He entered Friday's action with a 6-4 record and a 2.92 ERA.

"It was a big-time honor to get picked in the first round," McGuire said. "I was excited when it happened. But that part of my life is over."