The Washington Nationals' top prospect seemed calm, cool and collected during a seven-minute session with about 15 media members as part of the All Star weekend festivities in the South Atlantic league.
The eighteen-year-old phenom Bryce Harper fielded all sorts of questions at Perdue Stadium in Salisbury, Md., ranging from his teammates to the now-infamous kiss-blowing incident.
The teenager showed some media-savvy beyond his years, side-stepping questions about his possible promotion to high A-ball in Potomac, or possibly even Double-A Harrisburg. He even played the "humble" card, at one point calling teammate Blake Kelso, a 22-year-old third baseman, the best player on his team.
Perhaps his most interesting answer was to a question about taking outside criticism:
"I could really care less what people say about me," he said. "Everybody's going to write what they want to write, people are going to think what they want to think. My family, my friends, everybody that's around me (and) has been around me since high school and college ... everybody that knows me knows what type of person I am. People are going to make assumptions, so they can do whatever they want. They don't know me."