Bryce Harper is as nice a person as he is a very, very good prospect.

I am first and foremost a baseball scout. I watch every game from a scouting perspective. I have no idea about the score or which team is winning. I look at every pitch, watch every at-bat, scrutinize every play and pay attention to details. That's the way I was taught by seasoned veterans when I attended the Major League Scouting Bureau's Scout School.

I mention that because my training is not in asking baseball players questions in pre-game or post-game interviews. If I have an opportunity to ask questions, they are usually about the mechanical parts of the game.

Today, because of the efforts of Arizona Fall League Media Relations Assistant Adam Nichols, I was able to meet with Washington Nationals 2010 first round draft choice Bryce Harper. Adam had arranged for any media in attendance to meet with Harper following the game at Scottsdale Stadium. Nichols probably didn't think only one person would be in attendance---me.

When the game was over, Adam asked me if I still wanted to meet with Harper. Of course I said yes.

Adam had arranged for Harper to be in the dugout tunnel after the last out. Sure enough, there he was. It was your trusted reporter and Bryce Harper. Adam left us alone. The only stipulation was that I couldn't spend more than five or ten minutes with Harper. That was fine with me. Again, I didn't have tons of non-mechanical questions to ask.

As I wrote in my Notebook on RotoWire this week, Harper arrived in Phoenix last week as a 17 year-old. He turned 18 the following day. He was accompanied by his father. The Arizona Fall League would be his professional baseball debut. He is on the "taxi squad" of the Scottsdale Saguaros. That means he plays only on Wednesday and Saturday.

I asked him if it was a long wait between games. I wanted to know if he had learned much from his first start last Wednesday?

Harper responded that he loves to hit and he just wanted to "get his hacks in." he had a huge ground-rule double in his first game and he had two hits in his game today. He was seeing pitches well, with the exception of two.

I asked him if he felt pitchers could get him out by throwing "under his hands?" That was a pitch he struck out on early in the game. It was his first professional whiff.

He said they were bad pitches and he "never should have swung". He made adjustments in the next at-bat. He laid off pitches in under his hands and he patiently waited for something he could drive. That shows a maturity and knowledge of the game beyond his age. I see Harper as a very good contact hitter having the ability to put the barrel of the bat on the ball with outstanding hands and wrists. He is very quick through the ball. Outstanding bat speed.

I asked him if the pitching he was seeing in the Arizona Fall League was better than what he saw in his brief appearance in the Instructional League in Florida? He said he saw some "pretty good breaking balls" in the Instructional League and "the same quality of pitches here in Arizona." Frankly, he said, "there isn't much difference in the pitching." I found that interesting.

I told Harper that last fall I asked his teammate Stephen Strasburg what size shoe he, Strasburg, wore? I asked because it looked like Strasburg was walking in row boats. Harper laughed when I asked him the same question. "I wear a size 14." Those are some big feet.

We concluded our few minutes together by Bryce Harper looking me in the eye and saying "I just want to have some fun and help my teammates win ball games." He wants to have some fun. I love that. He knows that the game can be fun. He knows that the game should be fun. He knows that if played right, the game will be fun.

In my two occasions to meet and speak with Bryce Harper I have found a young man with outstanding poise and appropriate self-confidence. The strikeout early in the day did appear to bother him. It was obvious when he returned to his position in right field. But it didn't impact his game. He disappointment didn't linger. He's a mature beyond his life experience. He is humble and hungry.

Following our conversation, Harper went back outside and started signing autographs for countless people who waited patiently for him to appear. He didn't have to do that. He didn't have to sign autographs. But it's who he is. He would stay there all day if left alone.

Adam Nichols and his colleagues on the Fall League staff have made Bryce Harper feel welcome and wanted. In return, Bryce Harper has returned their kindness with cooperation, energy and the presence of a superstar in the making that doesn't take himself too seriously. How refreshing.

Major League Baseball has already requested the bat, ball, batting glove, bases and other memorabilia used by Bryce Harper in his first professional game last Wednesday. They'll use the items in their MLB auctions. Think they know what they have in Bryce Harper?

I'll have several more opportunities to visit with Bryce Harper this fall. If there is anything you want me to ask him in your behalf, please leave your question in the comment section below. If possible and appropriate, you'll read the answers in my blog.

Look for my Fall League Notebook next week when I share some of my thoughts on several current Fall League players.