With bonus collision rules GIF action!
Bryce Harper's hitting and youth is what gets all of the attention, but every now and again we get a reminder that he's good at everything that is baseball. Forgetting that fact cost the Mets a run in Wednesday's game against the Nationals, as Harper's arm defeated Ruben Tejada's legs in a one-on-one match-up.
Juan Lagares drilled a pitch down the left field line into foul territory, and it's there we find Harper giving chase while Tejada rounds third base:
It's going to be close! Or not.
Harper gathers the ball and fires an accurate one-hop shot to catcher Jose Lobaton, gunning Tejada down with time to spare. In fact, there's enough time leftover here for Lobaton to give us a clear lesson in how the new collision rules work.
Lobaton sets up in the batter's box, behind the foul line, receives the one-hop throw from Harper, then avoids blocking the baseline for Tejada, tagging him effectively and legally. Maybe things don't go so cleanly if the throw isn't as accurate or powerful, but that's not a concern with Harper behind it on this occasion.