but I dont want to overreact to this yet. I think much of this stuff is overrated. I already had this impression of the kid anyway. Still in wait and see mode.

all he is is ahead of the curve.

as i’ve stated before i have numerous family and friends that play/played pro ball and have hungout with at least 50 guys on an upclose personal level, that list probably expands to over 100 players if you count players i’ve just rubbed elbows with. I would say that 40-50% are self entitled assholes. I could tell story after story of instances of attitudes and personalities that have taken me aback.

The difference is he is displayign thsi behavior at 17 instead of 25. It doesn’t affect what he does on the field and he is doing nothing that is breaking any laws, so I say who cares

I wouldnt touch this kid with a ten foot pole.

Makeup is huge. Its reflects how a player reacts to adversity. Early on in a professional career, there is tons of failure, taunting and ejections as a 17 year old turn into major character issues and head problems as a pro.

If you can take the risk, and the Nats cant, go ahead and risk your pick and money on him. He probably will produce, but this story shows that he is a MAJOR risk to take on the first pick, let alone top 10. Hopefully if the Nats do take him he holds out and doesnt sign, allowing the Nats at the very least the #2 pick in 2011.

Haters are jealous of Bryce.

Two things:
If scouts, who are used to being around cocky and arrogant players, are noticing that Harper is worse, that says quite a bit. Sounds like he is worse than most average players.

Also, this kind of thing can affect his on field performance. All the stories I hear about these special talent kids who don’t make it in the pros, not just baseball either, have one of two reasons they don’t make it. Either injury, or they have work ethic problems as an adult because they never had to try hard growing up. Look at Todd Marinovich, Michael Vick, Corleone Clark, etc. So stories that Harper is a prick with a sense of entitlement are worrisome.

And if he is pissing off teammates, that isn’t good. I know baseball is about the one team sport that is less team oriented… but catcher is the position that you need to have a team-first guy at.

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Very sad and quite the shame.

Can’t say I’m surprised, given the dishonorable person who Goldstein happens to be.

Really a disgrace of a human being, but for some reason people appear too reluctant to admit it.

This is typical KG pulling quotes out of his ass that were never actually uttered.

I would really like to see Goldstein say this unfounded shit to Harper’s face…….

Guys like Callis, Manuel, Sickles, and Foster do great things for this industry.

Then you have KG, who singlehandedly negates all the good in this community.

This is nothing but the usual pre-draft drivel, nitpicking to death all the top prospects, irregardless of the sport. We went through the same BS last year with all the breathless pronouncements of Strasburg’s supposed failings. Get a life people.

If you (or me) were proclaimed to be the next great star in your sport wouldn’t you be a little cocky. I’m not too concerned with this

My point of view.

There are different behavior and personality traits that come under the rubric of "makeup’.

Work Ethic: It doens’t sound to me like Harper has a bad work ethic, in terms of putting in the necessary work to make his talent shine through. Indeed, the fact that he’s driven to succeed so much that he’s playing junior college ball at age 17 testifies to a strong drive to succeed. That’s a GOOD THING. a VERY GOOD THING in regards to his future develpment.

Arrogance and Sense of Entitlement: Well….he’s a 17 year old kid and at this point I wouldn’t worry TOO much about that, given that he has shown (so far anyway) that he can and will work on his game. However, it’s a caution flag…what happens the first time he finds a challenge he can’t handle right away? Will his drive to succeed override his sense of entitlement? Too soon to know….but he’s just 17. A lot can change between 17 and 21.

Taunting Opponents: On the other hand, to me, the taunting of opponents is a big red flag and testifies to a poor basic underlying character. A person who taunts the opposition is essentially a moral coward and an asshole of high order and also likely a poor teammate. His parents should have put a stop to that a long time ago. If my kid engaged in taunting opponents at any age, punishment would have been swift. Of course, at age 17 he still has time to outgrow that, too. But that is the thing I find most worrisome. I’m not saying you have to be a gentleman on the field…hard play is good play and you have to play to win. But that’s different than taunting or stuffing things in people’s faces.

Now, all that said, this is just hearsay at this point and something I will try to research on myself. I don’t know who Kevin Goldstein’s sources are on this, but Kevin is a topnotch reporter and isn’t going to write something unless he has some good backing for it.

Assuming that everything Goldstein wrote is true, what does it say about Harper? It says he’s a 17 year old punk kid who has some things to learn, but that with one red flag (the taunting) that bothers me a lot and would have to be monitored closely to make sure it doesn’t get out of hand..