Robbie Grossman’s breakout 2011 season won’t have a happy ending. Kristy Robinson reported last night that the outfielder broke a hamate bone in one of his hands and is due for surgery next week. The problem with a hamate injury, as Pirate fans know well by now (Jose Tabata injured his hamate in the minors with the Yankees, Pedro Alvarez injured his at Vanderbilt) is that it can sap a player’s power for up to a year while he recovers. Grossman is coming off of a career-high 13 homers and 34 doubles with the Bradenton Marauders this year in addition to lighting up the Arizona Fall League, and the biggest question around him right now is whether he can really develop that power into something to go with his great plate patience. Now, we’ll likely be waiting an extra year for the answer to that question.
And this was shaping up to be such a nice fall-ball season between Grossman and Gerrit Cole and Chris Leroux throwing well in the Dominican. Cole pitches again tonight and can hopefully erase the ugly start he made in last Saturday’s Rising Stars Game.
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