I apologize for not blogging about Orioles prospect Dylan Bundy yet today, but I was out at a local MMA gym shooting this week's Right Back @ You segment, which should be up on the blog sometime tonight. But I'm back, and ready to pass along a few new nuggets on the Orioles' first-round pick in the 2011 draft.
First things first, Bundy's comment about how he would handle Bryce Harper -- which became national news after I blogged yesterday about his interview on 105.7 The Fan -- got around to the Harper clan, and we now have a full-fledged Bundy-Harper rivalry in the Beltway region. Bryan Harper, who like his brother is also a Nationals prospect, Tweeted this: "Im pretty sure the #Bundys dont want any part of the #Harpers & they need the full story before they start callin people out!" But Bryan Harper probably doesn't know the full story on why Bundy said he would hit Bryce Harper "all four at-bats" -- a radio host asked Bundy about it.
How did 14-year-old Dylan Bundy get so diesel? His father, Denver, made Dylan and Bobby Bundy cut down pecan trees with an axe and lug around wheelbarrows filled with dirt before they were 10 years old, according to MLB.com's Brittany Ghiroli. "I know it sounds extreme," Denver Bundy told Ghiroli. "It was extreme to their friends and friends' parents to hear about these kids doing this stuff at 7, 8, 9 years old. But trust me, it's nothing compared to what they put themselves through now." Extreme indeed, child labor laws be damned.
Bundy was named The Tulsa World's All-Metro Player of the Year this week, which is probably getting old for him because it was the third straight year he received that honor. He pitched a no-hitter and six one-hitters for Owasso High School in Oklahoma this season, including five consecutive one-hitters. That's why he could set the record for a signing bonus giving to a high school prospect when contract negotiations with the Orioles are all said and done.
Bundy also "possesses wisdom beyond his years on and off the mound," writes Joseph Santoliquito of MaxPreps.com. "Talking to him, you sense a young Southern sage who absorbed everything ever told to him about pitching." That apparently includes Nationals prospects who like to blow kisses after hitting home runs.