Bryce Harper thought he drew a 3-2 walk in the seventh inning at Double-A last night, but as he headed to first base home plate umpire Max Guyll called him out on strikes and the 18-year-old Nationals uber-prospect angrily slammed his helmet down in disgust.
Guyll immediately ejected him from the game, at which point Harper got in the umpire’s face, screaming and pointing and digging his spikes into the dirt to show where he believed the pitch crossed outside the strike zone.
Chris Knight of the Harrisburg Patriot-News snapped the fantastic face-to-face action photo you see displayed to the left and CSNWashington.com has video that shows the entire incident unfold:
[vodpod id=Video.14888184&w=425&h=350&fv=v%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.csnwashington.com%2Fcommon%2FthePlatform%2FPDK%2FCSN%2Fcsnhd%2Fvars.txt%26amp%3BreleaseURL%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Flink.theplatform.com%2Fs%2F-%2FgjHv0UxzUiiM0r4KQ_ktTcHxbFKvaZV1%3FMBR%3Dtrue%26amp%3Bzone%3Dhome%26amp%3BplayerURL%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.csnwashington.com%2Fpages%2Fvideo%3FPID%3DgjHv0UxzUiiM0r4KQ_ktTcHxbFKvaZV1%26amp%3BembeddedPlayerHTML%3D%253CEMBED%2BSRC%253D%2522http%253A%252F%252Fwww.csnwashington.com%252Fcommon%252FthePlatform%252Fweb%252Fswf%252FflvPlayer.swf%2522%2Bflashvars%253D%2522v%253Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.csnwashington.com%252Fcommon%252FthePlatform%252FPDK%252FCSN%252Fcsnhd%252Fvars.txt%2526releaseURL%253Dhttp%253A%252F%252Flink.theplatform.com%252Fs%252F-%252F%257BreleasePID%257D%253FMBR%253Dtrue%2526zone%253Dhome%2526playerURL%253Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.csnwashington.com%252Fpages%252Fvideo%253FPID%253D%257BreleasePID%257D%2522%2Bheight%253D%2522360%2522%2Bwidth%253D%2522633%2522%2Btype%253D%2522application%252Fx-shockwave-flash%2522%2BallowFullScreen%253D%2522true%2522%2Bbgcolor%253D%2522%2523ffffff%2522%253E%253C%252FEMBED%253E]
Obviously this wouldn’t be any kind of story if Harper wasn’t involved, as plenty of minor leaguers are ejected in similar fashions every week, but it does play into some of the negative aspects of his reputation and the incident making headlines is part of the increased attention that comes with being a former No. 1 overall pick and the top prospect in baseball at age 18. Plus, he did kind of freak out.
For more details, check out the game story from the Harrisburg Patriot-News.
