Bryce Harper, future HBP victim

Bryce Harper, he of the eye black and massive bat, avoided a big bruise after an incident while playing for Washington's Single-A affiliate in Hagerstown, MD.  Basically, Harper stood and watched his big fly for a few seconds - much more than baseball protocol allows - and then trotted his way around the basepaths.  The pitcher for Greensboro said some things to Harper, and Harper blew him a kiss at the end of his home run trot.  The next at bat, he got a pitch up and in from a different Greensboro pitcher in obvious retaliation.

Young Bryce is lucky - had this happened higher up in the minors, and definitely on the major league level, either he or one of his teammates would have taken a fastball to the rear or the back and no one would have batted an eyelash one way or the other.  Baseball has a funny way of policing itself - rules about HBP's or not - especially when you see your division rivals 18 times a season.  If he had done that with Roy Halladay on the mound, it's safe to say he'd be sporting a baseball-sized bruise as a reminder to not show up your competition in that way..

That all being said, Harper has been called out for his immaturity and it has been said this incident could hold him back in the minors.  That's purely a bunch of junk - he's 18 years old for crying out loud!  The purpose of the minors for Harper is to learn how to be a professional baseball player so when he comes up to Washington he doesn't pull this kind of crap again.  The team used it as a learning experience - the manager of Hagerstown should be commended for using what could have been a total negative and teaching these kids baseball as it should be played on the field.

I imagine that Harper will learn his lesson the hard way - since he didn't feel the full consequences of his actions on the field, he'll probably do it again and get a slightly more painful result.  But that's OK...I can't remember too many 18-year olds that were fully mature adults and starting their professional career.  What he has to do is keep working hard and keep stuff like this to a minimum lest he get a reputation as disrespectful, which will grate on his teammates as well as his opponents.