Ruben Tejada: Former Met Who's NLDS Injury Had MLB Change Base Running Sliding Rule (2010 - 2016/ 2019)

Ruben Dario Tejada was Born on October 27th, 1989, in Santiago, Veraguas, Panama. His father was a mechanic & his mother worked as a secretary. Ruben also has a younger brother.

As a youth he competed in the 2001 Little League World Series. Then in 2006, he participated in the World Junior Championship.

In 2006 the five-foot eleven infielder was signed by the New York Mets as an amateur free agent.

In 2007, Ruben played for the St. Lucie Mets moving up to AA Binghamton the following season where he hit .289.

Mets Career: In 2010 young 20-year-old baby faced kid was invited to the Mets Spring Training & made the club heading north to New York. At the time Tejada was the third youngest player in the league. 

In the second game of the season, he debuted as a pinch hitter, going hitless in the Mets loss to the Marlins. 

On April 9th in a 9-2 win over the Nationals at Citi Field, he got his first big league hit, coming off Tyler Walker in the 8th inning. After the game he was sent down to AAA Buffalo,

He rejoined the club in early June when second baseman Luis Castillo got injured. 

In mid-July he was sent back to AAA Buffalo then rejoined the club less than a month later, spending the rest of the season playing second base & at short stop after Joe Reyes got injured.

Multi-Five RBI Game: On September 5th in an 18-5 romp over the Cubs at Wrigley Field, he hit his first career HR, a solo shot off Marcos Mateo. Tejada had a two run single, walked with the bases loaded & collected a sac fly.

Tejada was used for his glove more than his bat, as he hit .213 with a HR 12 doubles & 15 RBIs in 78 games played.

In 50 games at second base, he posted a .972 fielding %. In 28 games at short posted a .982 fielding %. Overall, in between sparkling defensive plays he made eight errors in 331 chances.

2011: Tejada began the season at AAs Buffalo but was called up on May 17th when David Wright went down with an injury. Tejada played at second base as Justin Turner moved over to Wright's position at third base.

At the end of May, in a four game series with the Pirates, Tejada collected six hits & six RBIs. In mid-June after a seven game hit streak, he was batting .325

He fell into a slump & by July 18th saw his average fall to .250, then was sent back to AAA Buffalo at the break.

On August 8th he was promoted back to the Mets team when Jose Reyes & Daniel Murphy were both placed on the DL. From there Ruben saw steady playing batting .319 over 44 games to end the season with a .284 average. 

He hit 15 doubles with 35 RBIs, drew more walks (35) posting a .360 on base %.

At short stop he posted a .956 fielding % making eight errors in 41 games. He played in 55 games at second base with four errors & a .984 fielding % turning 31 double plays.

In the off season the Mets let Jose Reyes go to the Marlins via free agency, making Tejada seem like he was the heir to the short stop position.

2012: Tejada began the year hitting .299 thru the first month of the season. That April he hit safely in 15 of 19 games while having two multi-four hit games.

Multi-Three RBI Game: On April 21st in a 5-4 win over the Giants at Citi Field, he drove in a season high three runs with a two run double & RBI grounder that scored Lucas Duda. 

In May he was batting .305 when he suffered an injury shutting him down for the next six weeks.

In June, Ruben returned as the Mets were surprising people contending in the NL East. 

Multi-Four Hit Game: On June 29th in a 9-0 win at L.A., he had himself his third multi four-hit game of the year, with three singles & a double. 

From July 1st to August 9th, Tejada hit safely in 29 of 33 games, with 48 hits for a .336 batting average, almost making people forget about Jose Reyes who was struggling in Florida. 

On August 1st, Ruben led off a game in San Francisco with a HR off Matt Cain for his only HR of the season.

Walk Off Hit: On September 23rd, Ruben came to bat in the bottom of the 9th inning in a tied game with the Florida Marlins. With the bases loaded he singled off Ryan Webb scoring Jerry Hairston to win the game with an exciting walk off hit. He was greeted in the post-game interview with a cream pie to the face courtesy of Justin Turner. 

Four Hit Game: On September 26th, during a ten game hit streak, he had his fourth multi- four
hit game of the season. Ruben had two RBI singles with four singles overall. He closed out the year with a three hit game in a 4-2 win in South Florida. 

Multi-Hit Game Trivia: On the season he had 36 multi-hit games with 14 of them being three or more hits.

For the year he had career bests in batting (.289) hits (134) doubles (26) runs scored (53) with one HR 25 RBIs, just 27 walks, a .334 on base % & a .685 OPS.

2013: Mets manager Terry Collins & GM Sandy Alderson were annoyed at what they said was Tejada's poor work ethic.

GM Sandy Alderson said to get Tejada to do any extra work outs was "like pulling teeth". 

At the end of May, after struggling to bat just .202 Tedaja hurt his quad & was put on the DL.

When he returned to action he spent nearly two months at AAA Las Vegas before getting called back up. 

Quotes- Manager Terry Collins: "With the guys who are here right now, that should be his job, but he's got to go get it. It's not going to be handed to him."

Injury: Tejada returned in September to play in seven games. On September 18th in a 5-4 loss to the Giants at Citi Field, he made a diving catch in short left field, on a pop up off the bat of former Met, Angel Pagan. The Mets left fielder Andrew Brown ran in & collided with Tejada's leg breaking his right fibula. 

In 2013 he hit just .202 in 57 games.

2014: The Mets had tossed around ideas of a replacement for him back in the off season, but nothing developed. Tejada returned & began the season as the Mets main short stop. He hit under .200 until late April.

Walk Off Hit: On May 11th, the Mets & Phillies went to extra innings in a 4-4 tie. In the bottom of the 11th, with the bases loaded & one out Ruben singled into left field off Jeff Manship scoring Chris Young with the walk off game winner.

Walk Off Hit: On July 7th, the Mets were tied with the Atlanta Braves in the bottom of the 11th inning. With runners on first & second Tejada singled off Anthony Varvaro scoring Juan Lagares with the game winning walk off run. It was his  second walk off hit of the season.

In his last ten games of the season he had three multi-RBI games with a total of eight runs driven in.

As the season went on he saw Wilmer Flores get more playing times at the position. Once considered the heir to Joe Reyes' throne, Tejada seemed to be more on the outs after disappointing the expectations.

Quotes- Ruben Tejada: “I don’t pay any attention to it, my job is to get better. I want to finish strong and stay ready. You never know what is going happen whether it’s here or someplace else.”

Tejada did not hit much batting .228 with 11 doubles four HRs & 30 RBIs. At short stop he posted a .984 fielding % (second in the NL) turning 70 double plays.

2015 NL Pennant Season: Tejada found himself back on the Mets infield, as David Wright went down with injury most of the year, it left an open spot. 

Tejada benefited seeing action in 81 games at short stop posting a .982 fielding %, turning 36 double plays making just five errors.  He also played 19 games at third & 13 at second.

Multi- Three RBI Game: On April 19th, in a 7-6 win over the Marlins at Citi Field, Tejada hit a bases loaded double, clearing the bases helping the Mets in a seven-run 5th inning. 

A month later he would have another three RBI game also against the Marlins in Miami. 

From May 29th thru June 6th, he had a nine game hit streak collecting 16 hits in 36 at bats for a .444 average in that time.

In June he would drive in runs in back-to-back games twice in the month. In mid-July he had a ten-game hit streak, where he drove in five runs in that span. 

Multi-Four RBI Game: On September 2nd in a 9-4 Mets win over the Phillies at Citi Field, Tejada hit a 2nd inning two run inside the park HR off Aaron Nola. He added an RBI single & drove in a run with a fielders choice.

On the year Tejada batted .261 with three HRs 23 doubles 28 RBIs & a .338 on base %.

2015 Post Season-NLDS: Mets Manager Terry Collins named Ruben Tejada the Mets shortstop for the post season, as to tighten up the defense up the middle.

In Game #1 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, Tejada drew a one out walk off Clayton Kershaw in the 7th inning, with the Mets up 1-0. He would score on David Wright's two run single giving the Mets a 3-0 lead.

In Game #2 in the bottom of the 7th inning, Mets longtime nemesis Chase Utley came in to pinch hit & singled to right field with a runner on & the Mets up 2-1. Bartolo Colon came on to pitch & Howie Kendrick hit a bouncer to the right side of second base. 

Daniel Murphy fielded the ball & tossed to Tejada. Tejada leaned to his left caught the ball, made an awkward spin & was leveled by Chase Utley who never attempted to slide until he hit Tejada.

Tejada lay on the ground as the trainer, Terry Collins & his teammates came out to his aid. His leg was secured by paramedics & him was driven off the field on a cart. Tejada suffered a broken fibula as a result of the dirty slide. He was out for the remainder of the post season. 

The slide was deemed illegal by baseball rules & Utley was suspended for two games. MLB's dean of discipline at the time, Joe Torre led an investigation for the league to tighten up the rule on sliding into infielders on the base paths. 

New Rules: In February 2016 the rule was changed by MLB stating "the base runner must make a bona fide attempt to reach the base. Although he can still initiate contact, he cannot change his path to get to the fielder or use a roll block to take him out. The runner must begin his slide & make contact with the ground before he reaches the base. 

He must be able to reach the base with his hand or foot & make an attempt to do so. He must slide within reach of the base without changing his pathway for the purpose of initiating contact. 

If he initiates, contact with the fielder in order to break u a double play he'll be out for interference & the batter running will be out at first as well.

A new rule similar to this rule was soon set in place for sliding into home plate & not barreling over catchers.

Tejada's injury infuriated the Mets team as well as their fans. As the NLDS moved to New York, the Mets fans gave Tejada a tremendous standing ovation during the pre-game introductions to Game #3. He walked on the field with a cane.

In the next two games, the Mets fans kept chanting "we want Utley" & probably would have torn him apart if they could get to him.

The Mets won the series & advanced to the NLCS in five games.

After the post season, the Mets chose to tender Tejada's contract for 2016. But in Spring Training 2016 he was released.

Post Mets Career: He signed a contract with the St. Louis Cardinals & played 23 games there before getting released. He then signed with the San Francisco Giants in June & played 13 games there before being sent to the minors in mid-July. 

In 2017 Tejada signed on with the Baltimore Orioles, batting .230, playing in 41 games for the. 

He
was granted free agency & in Spring Training of 2019 he signed a minor league deal, returning to the New York Mets organization. 

Return to the Mets: In 2019 Ruben spent most of the season at AAA Syracuse Syracuse playing 73 games batting .326 with 20 doubles 6 HRs & 42 RBI. 

He was brought up to the Mets team in mid-August, where he played in six games going hitless in nine at bats. Tejada  played at second, short & third base. At the end of August, he was designated for assignment.

Mets Career: In his six-year Mets career, he batted .255 with 10 HRs 99 doubles one triple 148 RBIs 198 runs scored & a .330 on base %.  At short stop Ruben played 425 Mets games (sixth on the Mets all-time list). 

He posted a .976 fielding % making 43 errors in 1770 chances, turning 257 double plays. Tejada also played 118 games at second base & 19 games at third base.

Post Mets Career: In 2020 Tejada signed minor league deal with Blue Jays but was released. 

In 2021 he signed with the Phillies then the White Sox where playing in their minor leagues.

He went on to play Independent League baseball & in Mexico thru 2025.

Career Stats: In his career he played 663 games with 530 hits batting .250 with 10 HRs 110 doubles 1 triple 225 runs scored & 158 RBIs. He drew 202 walks, posting a .324 on base & a .641 IPS.

The versatile infielder has played 476 games at short stop, 126 at second base, 50 at third base & even pitched a scoreless inning.

Honors: In 2025 Ruben was on hand for the Mets Alumni Classic playing for the Citi Field team.

Family: Ruben & his girlfriend have two children.