Washington Nationals: Takeaways after Bryce Harper’s scare

There are lessons to learn from Washington Nationals superstar Bryce Harper’s knee injury. Here are three ways to prevent this from happening again.

The Washington Nationals indeed dodged a major bullet Saturday night as Bryce Harper did not do structural damage to his left knee.

After hyper-extending it awkwardly skating on first base, Harper suffered a serious bone bruise. Although surgery is not required, the injury will take time to heal. The Nats hope he can return in a couple weeks and ready for the National League playoffs come October.

As with Adam Eaton’s injury, Harper lunged at the first base bag and fell. For those of you at Nationals Park, along with us watching on MASN, his screams sent chills. You hoped for the best and feared the worst. Somehow, hope won out.

Yet, you can argue the injury should never have happened. The game started three hours late because of thunderstorms and rain fell at the start. Or, with such a large lead in the NL East and a doubleheader following on Sunday why was Harper playing?

Although nothing serious came about, the sight of Harper being carried off the field scared fans around the area, the Nats front office and ownership along with anyone watching from Park Avenue in New York at the Commissioner’s Office of Major League Baseball.

Regardless of the star power of any one player—and, you do not get much bigger than Harper—there are lessons teams and MLB must learn from Saturday night. If you play sports, you open yourself up for injuries. They play a sad but integral part of athletics. Yet, not enough attention goes to player safety.

Here are a few things everyone should change in baseball so this scare does not happen again.