The good news about Tabata’s injury

From Kevin Goldstein at Baseball Prospectus (subscription required):

The fact that he recently had surgery on his hamate bone is a mitigating factor, as that’s exactly the kind of injury that can sap a player of his power…Nonetheless, on a pure hitting level, Tabata is pretty special and should be a consistent contender for batting titles when he reaches the big leagues.

It’s a little reassuring, and should at least silence the Tabata cynics for another six months or so. Hard to knock a guy’s power when he’s on the DL with an injury that was directly related to it.