Washington Nationals’ budding star Bryce Harper insists on playing after accidentally hitting himself on the side of his head with a bat during Friday night’s game at the Cincinnati Reds. The injury included a golf ball-sized welt and 10 stitches above his left eye after he swung his bat in anger in a tunnel leading to the team’s clubhouse following his fourth at-bat of the game. 

Harper went 0 for 5 with three strikeouts in the Nationals’ 7-3 victory. After grounding out to second base in the seventh inning, Harper took out his frustrations on a wall with the bat, according to the Washington Post. The bat bounced off the wall and hit the 19-year-old outfielder above his left eye, drawing blood.

Harper returned to the game in the bottom of the inning and was seen in right field with blood on the left side of his face.

“I didn’t think much about it,” manager Davey Johnson said. “We put a band-aid on it, one of those butterflies. That’s what ballplayers do — break bats, throw helmets. That’s not anything new.”

The newspaper reported that Harper came out of the trainers’ room after the game with a welt, stitches and clumps of blood in his hair.
His teammates also began calling him “Bam-Bam.”

“I just got caught up in the moment,” Harper said. “I want to do so well. It just got me.”

Johnson said Harper could miss a couple games but Harper said he could play. The Nationals and Reds play today at 4:05 p.m. ET.

The Sports Xchange