Unfortunately, the latest Jose Tabata incident is hardly a surprise.  If it were the first time he'd been involved in a controversial situation this season, it would be different.

But the 19-year-old was suspended for three games earlier this year for an incident in which he left the game without the team's permission.

This time, depending on who you believe, he either was asked to leave the game after failing to back up Austin Jackson on a play in the outfield, or got into a shoving match inside the dugout with infielder
Reegie Corona, leading to Tabata being pulled into the tunnel by teammates.

If the latter is the case, as it is believed to be and has been backed up by a fan account, you could make a strong argument that it's about time.

The 2007 Baseball America Prospect Handbook profiled Tabata as someone who: "scouts have noticed that he tends to coast and turn his talent on and off."

Having seen him play for two months now, I'd say that's an accurate assessment.

Several days before the incident, I essentially ripped Tabata for a lack of effort during a recent game: "Could not agree more with a scouting report I saw on Jose Tabata that says he tends to turn his talent on and off.  I can't tell you how many times I've seen him make no effort on catchable balls that are hit right at him that end up landing.  Anthony Hatch hit a ball off of Melancon in the 5th that was right to him, but he barely moved and watched it land about three feet in front of him.  I hate to rip the guy, but enough already…"

I'd seen several similar plays from him throughout the season, and was simply fed up with it.  The whole thing -- that play, the apparent incident last night -- is disappointing, because he seemed to straighten himself out after the first incident, and only recently had seemed to go back to his old ways.

Outside of a few sentences I'd seen about his tendency to go the Randy Moss route and take the occasional play off, everything I had heard about Tabata had been positive.  He had a great on-field reputation,
and everything I had been told was that I'd be seeing an elite hitter.

I'd imagine that his struggles to show that he is just that, combined with the fact that he's a 19-year-old kid in Double-A and he speaks very little English, have made things difficult on him.  The last point is what makes writing about Tabby difficult for me, because the language barrier makes it impossible to get to know him.

I've really only interviewed him at length twice, and while we've said hello to each other in the clubhouse any time we should happen to walk past one another, that's about the extent of any conversation you can
have with him in English.

I hope Tabata turns things around, both on the field and off.  But it seems hard to believe that five years from now, when/if Tabata is making a name for himself in the big leagues, that his time in Trenton will be remembered for anything but these incidents.

You can visit Mike Ashmore's Trenton Thunder blog, by clicking here.