What's the signicance of Bryce Harper being drafted as an OF?

When the Washington Nationals drafted Bryce Harper with the number 1 overall pick in the 2010 MLB draft, the announced him not as "catcher Bryce Harper", but "outfielder Bryce Harper". Why did the Nationals do that and what does it mean for the future?

Harper's future with the Nats is as a RF. Nyjer Morgan is entrenched in CF, and while Willingham could be moveable in LF, he isn't anywhere near as moveable as Roger Bernadina. Not that the Nats could necessarily trade Bernadina for anything, but they could release him or send him down to the minors with no questions asked. If he's lucky, he'll be a bench player. Bernadina is hitting just .255 with 2 homers and 15 RBI, so the Nats' future was looking cloudy in RF. So, the Nats got rid of that problem by making Harper their RF of the future.

But, the Nats have no long-term answer at catcher also! Ivan Rodriguez is going to retire by 2013, and 33 year old Wil Nieves is their backup. Nieves was hitting just .180 entering tonight! The answer to that is Nats' 6th round draft pick, Cole Leonida, a catcher from Georgia Tech. The Nats must have known that they would draft him (or another good catching prospect) later in the draft when they announced Harper as an outfielder. Maybe they think Harper will develop better as a hitter if he doesn't have to focus on being a catcher. Also, like all of you have probably already heard, Harper will make the majors faster as a RF than he would have as a catcher. So, they'll let Leonida, a more experienced catcher, be the potential catcher of the future in order to maximize Harper's ability as a hitter and to get him to the majors more quickly.