Bryce Harper Impresses in His MLB Debut for Washington Nationals

The Washington Nationals may not have won Saturday night's game in Los Angeles against the Dodgers, but there are plenty of positives to take away from the action.

Most of them have a heck of a lot to do with 19-year-old phenom Bryce Harper's debut.

I noticed several things about Harper during the game, many of which leave me rethinking my initial reactions of bringing him up so early.

Just in case you don't know, you can click here for more on my thoughts.

Harper showed me up on Saturday night, though. I have questioned his maturity level in the past, as well as the "swagger" that he exudes while playing the game—neither of which showed up to the ballpark with him during his debut at Dodger Stadium.

The first thing that impressed me was his hustle out of the batter's box. 

In his first at-bat against Chad Billingsley, Harper took a big hack and hit a come-backer to the mound that resulted in a relatively easy play.

That didn't stop Harper, as he hustled all the way down the line and even forced a much closer play than merited.

I knew he was fast, but I never realized that he was that fast.

He showed great hustle later on in the contest on his first major-league hit, a double over the head of center fielder Matt Kemp.

He drilled a high and away fastball about 380 feet to straight away center field and was assured at least two bases. That didn't stop him, however, as he turned on the afterburners just in case he could make it to third.

In the end, he stopped safely at second.

Another thing that impressed was his absolute cannon of an arm.

In the bottom of the seventh, Harper came up throwing on a ground ball in attempt to gun down the runner at the plate. He put all that he could on the ball and fired an absolute bullet to catcher Wilson Ramos.

The throw beat the runner by a good 10 feet, but Ramos could not hold onto the ball. The run scored, but not before Harper impressed the entire stadium—and all the fans watching at home, for that matter—with his fantastic, and accurate, throwing arm.

Harper's much-anticipated debut will be a game he won't soon forget.

He roped his first career hit, picked up his first career RBI on a sac-fly to left, and even got to showcase his fantastic arm. It would have been better if the Nationals had been the ones coming out on top in Saturday night's 4-3 extra-innings victory for the Dodgers, but Harper will soon learn that he'll take part in his fair share of both victories and losses.

The Nationals are a team on the rise, and with Harper in left field for the foreseeable future, they have even more to look forward to.

Links to all of Harper's highlights, including his first hit and throw to home plate, can be seen here.