ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS

A.J. Pollock avoids bad karma by saving a praying mantis

Sep 4, 2016, 1:45 PM

Praying mantids and baseball go together like peanut butter and jelly, pen and paper, lock and key.

Since the Kansas City Royals adopted the Rally Mantis, the insects have begun popping up in ballparks across MLB. It was only a matter of time before one appeared in Diamondbacks land.

On Saturday, Arizona outfielder A.J. Pollock encountered a beastly looking praying mantis while in the outfield during the D-backs’ win against the Colorado Rockies.

“I don’t really pay attention to the away fans, and they told me I almost killed an innocent creature. They were saying I almost stepped on their praying mantis,” Pollock told FOX Sports Arizona’s Todd Walsh.

Knowing just what karma might come with such a result, Pollock got the mantis out of harm’s way by handing it to a fan in the Coors Field stands. The fan who took in the mantis after Pollock saved it from being squashed didn’t know what to do with it after scaring away one young boy with the bug.

This only adds to the complex recent history of mantids and baseball.

Rally Mantis is thriving in Kansas City and elsewhere, and it’s safe to say this isn’t going away anytime soon.

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