Larger text
Smaller text
Kovacevic: Tabata’s trouble always self-torment
Dejan Kovacevic 
Sports Columnist
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Dejan Kovacevic is a sports writer for the Tribune-Review.
Contact Us | Video | RSS | Mobile
Daily Photo Galleries
By Dejan Kovacevic
Published: Sunday, June 17, 2012, 11:30 p.m.
Updated: Monday, June 18, 2012
CLEVELAND -- It wouldn't be easy to top Pedro Alvarez's prodigious transformation this weekend. The kid goes from biggest bust of all time to the next Babe Ruth like no one else in baseball, from 4 for 42 to four home runs in seven at-bats.
Both his bombs Sunday in the 9-5 beating of the Indians were a sight to behold, the balls rocketing out of Progressive Field with such force they had fans scurrying rather than souvenir-hunting.
Good for Alvarez, better for the Pirates.
But I witnessed another transformation here, too, and it might ultimately mean just as much: Jose Tabata smiled.
Tabata has been abysmal, of course. His average is .234. He has two home runs. He's hit the ball out of the infield — outs included — in an absurdly low 30 percent of his plate appearances. He's had brain cramps on the basepaths and in the outfield, too.
If you ask me, Tabata's been the Pirates' biggest disappointment of 2012.
Ask him, and the assessment's about the same.
“It's a bad year,” Tabata was saying at his stall yesterday morning, hours before first pitch. “I don't have any excuses.”
Good for him, because it sure sounds like Clint Hurdle isn't interested in hearing any more.
Six days ago in Baltimore, the manager summoned Tabata into his office, sat him down and cut straight to the punchline: He was tired of watching Tabata tiptoe through games for fear of hurting his long-troublesome hamstring, of “playing to not get hurt.” And he threatened Tabata with a trip to the minors if he didn't knock if off.
“Go play! Just play the game!” Hurdle recalled exhorting Tabata. “Look, you can save yourself from getting hurt right here, or you can save yourself from getting hurt in Indianapolis. Your choice.”
It's to Hurdle's credit that he was so direct, just as it speaks loudly — and sadly — to what's gone really wrong with Tabata: He's always bracing for the worst.
He's not a bad seed. Nor is he some lazy bum. He might not even be a full-blown malingerer. No, his issue long has been that he beats himself up, often to the point of distraction.
Hurdle worded it beautifully: “It's not that he mopes. He just disengages.”
That was all too easy to detect yesterday.
“I'm frustrated,” Tabata said in his still-halting English while staring at the floor. “I'm a .300 hitter. I know that. Everybody knows that. But I don't feel comfortable. This is the first time in my life.”
Tabata then raised his chin to add, “Look at me. You can see it in my face right now. I see it, too, in the mirror. I'm always asking, ‘Why is this happening to me?' But I keep saying, ‘Have faith, Jose. It's going to be better.' ”
Does that sound like someone who doesn't care?
I kept poking, anyway.
Is his health OK?
“I'm fine, 100 percent.”
Right answer.
Is he in good shape, counter to critics inside and outside the team?
“It's not a problem.”
I then asked about a striking scene June 1 in Milwaukee. Tabata was picked off first and scraped his knee while sliding into second. He limped to the dugout, cringing with each step. But once he arrived, no one tended to him. Not even the athletic trainers. He simply sat alone at the end of the bench.
What was that all about?
“Listen, let me tell you something,” Tabata came back, eyes widening. “When things are going good, nobody criticizes. That's baseball. When things are going bad, that's when everybody notices little things. I just need to play better.”
He's right on that first count: Didn't hear anyone complaining about how Alvarez wears his cap all weekend. As for playing better, there's no reason that shouldn't happen. Tabata was a career .297 hitter in the minors, and he's still at .273 in the majors. He's always been eminently capable of driving the ball, usually to right field.
Hurdle sounded heartened that, since their talk in Baltimore, Tabata is 7 for 19.
“I have seen Jose move better than he has all year,” Hurdle said. “I think what I told him finally got through. Maybe to a deep part of him.”
Maybe it did.
Tabata pinch-hit in the Pirates' ninth yesterday and doubled. Drove it, too. To right field.
And in the bottom half, he made what might have been the best throw of his career in nailing Asdrubal Cabrera trying to stretch a hit into a double. The ball met Clint Barmes' glove without a bounce.
The overall turn-and-fire form was reminiscent, actually, of Tabata's lifelong idol.
“Like Clemente, huh?” Tabata said. “No, no, just me.”
That's when he smiled.
Dejan Kovacevic is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at dkovacevic@tribweb.com.
Most Popular Stories
- Steelers’ Polamalu trim, fit as he arrives for OTAs
- Steelers quarterback Roethlisberger likes the revamped offense
- Penguins Insider: Time is right for Jokinen’s return
- Kovacevic: Pens improve under microscope
- Neal’s solid play soon could pay off on scoresheet for Penguins
- ‘We did it!’ Peduto tells city, as he defeats Wagner
- Rupert wins Democratic nod to run for sheriff
- Snider’s grand slam pushes Pirates to late victory over Cubs
- Mt. Pleasant mayor victorious
- Charleroi Area School Board getting two new members
- Senators get vote of confidence
You must be signed in to add comments
To comment, click the Sign in or sign up at the very top of this page.
Hi Dejan. Great article! Hopefully Tabata can start to build on his last few at bats. I'm a die hard Bucs fan living in Long Island (I'm a die hard Isles fan too. We had our differences on Twitter last summer when the Isles had that viewing party where they showed the Pens-Isles brawl filled game, which they backed out of and showed an Isles-Sabres game, but that's past history. I am just a big Isles fan as i am a Bucs fan, so my loyalty comes out sometimes). I watch all the games here on MLB.TV, and Tabata can be frustrating most of the time. He appears to be someone who is lazy and has an attitude issue, but after reading you're article, that doesn't seem to be the case. It just seemed odd to me that the Pirates gave him that long term extension, when they really didn't have any pressure to do so. Why didn't they give him at least another year before committing themselves to that deal? Hopefully in the long run, it turns out to be a wise decision by Huntington. I'm just getting tired of seeing Tabata ground out or hit into repeated double plays with 1 out and runners in scoring position. Thanks again for the article Dejan. It was a great read.
Submitted by: Dejan on Monday, June 18, 2012
I did ask about that, Matt. Come on over to the blog. That's where I take any kind of questions related to the column or coverage. And thanks for the kind words!
Submitted by: Matt on Monday, June 18, 2012
Good stuff, DK, and very well-timed. Seeing Pedro explode like that this weekend makes you understand why it's would be absurd to "give up" on the guy. That Herculean power (and rifle arm for that matter) is a skill set few possess. But Tabata to me is different. I'm not one of those guys who thinks he's lazy for out of shape, but I do worry that he may not have any differentiating skills that make him anything more than 4th outfielder-type. The speed and basestealing instinct he displayed last year are starting to disappear as his natural body type takes full shape, sotaspeak. And the line drives he used to spray all over the field seem like a distant memory now. It almost seems as if he is stubbornly committed to hitting the ball the other way no matter what, and now that the league realizes that, the result has been too many weak grounders to second because pitchers tend to try and jam him now. DK, do you see some of that, and was it something you asked him about at all?
Subscribe today! Click here for our subscription offers.
