Hamate fractures and power in the PITCHf/x era - Beyond the Box Score

Image courtesy of South Side Sox.

hankschulman: "Woke to news that Giancarlo Stanton out 4-6 weeks with broken hamate. #sfgiants visit Miami next series."

Found via Team Stream by Bleacher Report.
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If this review is correct, Stanton should return to form but not in time to do harm to the Giants or participate in the All-Star Game. After last years HBP to the face you have to wonder if the kid feels like he's a little bit snake-bitten as far as injuries go.

from Beyond the Box Score:

http://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2014/5/2/5672834/hamate-fractures-and-power-in-the-pitchfx-era

Do hamate bone fractures permanently sap a hitter of his power?

The mechanism of injury for each player was also confirmed when possible, again using BP player cards and internet searches.This gives us the following players, season of injury, and mechanism of injury:

Name	Season	Mechanism of Injury
Carlos Gomez	2007	Swing
Dustin Pedroia	2007	Unknown**
Willy Aybar	2007	Swing
Erick Aybar	2007	Unknown**
Ryan Zimmerman	2007	Swing
Joe Mather	2008	Swing
Tony Pena, Jr	2009	Swing
Everth Cabrera*	2009	Swing
Chris Dickerson	2010	Swing
Matt Antonelli	2010	Unknown**
Troy Tulowitzki	2010	HBP
Tony Gwynn, Jr	2010	Swing
Danny Espinosa	2010	Unknown**
Domonic Brown	2011	Swing
Michael Brantley	2011	Unknown**
Pablo Sandoval	2011	Swing
Nick Markakis	2012	Slide, Swing
Pablo Sandoval	2012	Swing
Gordon Beckham	2013	Swing
Mike Zunino	2013	Foul tip
Wilson Ramos	2014	Foul tip

*Cabrera suffered additional fracture in opposite hand in 2011 while in minors.

**For Pedroia and Brantley, mechanism unknown because player didn't know when he was originally hurt. Mechanisms for Espinosa and Aybar could not be confirmed.

The main mechanism of hamate injury is attributed to swinging a bat in our sample of 21 fractures across 20 players, at 62 percent; Pablo Sandoval shares the distinction with Everth Cabrera of suffering hamate fractures to both hands, with Cabrera suffering his breaks in the major and minor leagues. The reason for this dubious honor arises from both players being switch hitters and sustaining fractures from both sides of the plate. Three other switch hitters show up in our sample, with both Aybar brothers and Danny Espinosa all suffering fractures, but thankfully, only once.

.....

Overall, it appears that with time, player's who succumb to a hamate injury will find themselves back to previous power numbers upon their return to play, though it will probably take roughly a full season of at bats to do so. Of course a number of other factors could predispose a player to not bounce back quite as quickly or as robustly—age of injury, previous injury history, and even the time it took for correct diagnosis and treatment approach all play potential roles—but compared to other upper extremity injuries, the outlook for a full return to health and hitting power with the hamate fracture is generally promising.

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