I always find impressive the smoothness with which many pitchers and first basemen handle the “throw it to me while I’m on the run and I’ll tap the bag perfectly in time to get the runner” grounders that take the first basemen away from the bag. It’s a routine play, sure, but that’s only because they make it that way. Take a couple average Joes, and, while they could catch a pop fly or make a throw to first, I doubt they could as easily pull off the timing of being a pitcher sprinting over to cover first.
How about you throw in a kick off the pitcher’s foot, a diving stab by the first baseman, a nearly blind backhanded toss to the running pitcher, and a perfect cover of first?
That’s how you get this play, which is probably the best of this type of play I’ve seen: