Draft Notes: Rays, Harper, Whitson, Astros

The reactions and updates keep trickling in, as last year's first overall pick prepares to make his much-anticipated major league debut... Rays second round pick Jacob Thompson tells Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times that he's ready to sign. The right-hander says he doesn't want to play "hardball" with the Rays (figuratively speaking, that is). Nationals GM Mike Rizzo told Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post that he hopes to sign Bryce Harper and get his pro career started before the mid-August deadline for signing picks (Twitter link). The Nationals plan to have Harper play outfield, not catcher, according to Ben Goessling of MASN.com. The Giants took Brett Bochy (manager Bruce's son) with their 20th round pick, according to Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News (via Twitter). Not to be outdone, the Rockies drafted manager Jim Tracy's son, Mark, in the 22nd round, according to Troy Renck of the Denver Post (Twitter link). The W...