Bryce Harper tosses bat, nearly kills ump*, almost gets tossed.

This just in: Bryce Harper is cocky.

An anonymous unnamed source with no knowledge of the situation forwarded the YouTube clip above, which apparently shows Bryce Harper in action Thursday afternoon during College of Southern Nevada's 9-2 win over College of Southern Idaho in a NJCAA Region XVIII playoff game.

The clip is only 1:19 long, but seems much, much, longer for some reason. Maybe it's the cameraman answering his phone around the 1:00 mark. Or maybe it's the angle. Anyway, if you're willing to sit through the clip, around the 1:10 mark you'll see Harper hit a sharp grounder back to the pitcher. As he jogs up the first base line, he tosses his bat high up in the air over his head, almost like something you'd see a kid do in Little League.....it lands about a foot in front of the umpire. The crowd gasps. The umpire walks  towards Harper. The guy sitting in front of the cameraman half-heartedly yells: "Toss him!"

And scene.

Not sure what happens next; but we're reminded of the brouhaha over Bryce Harper's character from a few weeks ago, which seemed (and still seems) pretty ridiculous. At best, the video above reinforces the concept that Harper is just a 17 year old prick, just like 99.99% of 17 year old kids out there. Mark Zuckerman/Nats Insider reported a few weeks ago that the Nationals don't have any concerns about Harper's character:

"Is he confident? Yeah," the team official said. "Is he cocky? Yeah. Does he think he's the best player on the field at all times? Yeah. But find me a great player who doesn't think that about himself."
(via Nats Insider 4/29/2010)

Prior to Thursday's game, Harper was hitting .417 with 23 home runs and 68 RBIs in 55 games with a wooden bat for CSN.

The point of all that is just to say that we have purchased our tickets for Tuesday, June 8 at Nationals Park, which we're hoping is going to be Stephen Strasburg's debut for the Nationals. And, at the very least, by then the Nationals will have selected Bryce Harper with the first pick in the 2010 Draft, June 7.

*we made up the part about nearly killing the ump.

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Comments

[KOB]

You have to be kidding me on the headline of this article?!

He flipped his bat, the bat hit the ground in the infield grass (with the home plate ump still behind the plate). The bat flips once and still lands 5 feet away from the ump.

Players do this all the time, regardless of age.

Nats should still take Harper #1, this video is a non-issue.

[The Nationals Enquirer]

Yes, KOB. Check the "*" disclaimer, please. Also, please read the last sentence of the post: I think we're mostly on the same page here...

[Steve in FFX]

It will be fun in the future to be constantly making Strasburg/Jesus vs. Harper/Satan jokes.

[The Nationals Enquirer]

@FFX: yes, that will be a good angle which we'll no doubt beat like a dead horse over here. It's what we do.