Not too long after his part in the 2014 MLB season ended, 22-year old Oscar Taveras who has played for the St. Louis Cardinals, died in a car crash in his native Dominican Republic.
According to Col. Diego Pesqueira of the Metropolitan Transportation Agency, Taveras was driving in his Camaro on a highway between the beaches of Sosua and Cabarete in Puerto Plata. He wasn’t carrying any personal documents at the time of the crash, but his body was identified by family members.
According to National police spokesman Jacobo Mateo Moquete, Taveras lost control of the car he was driving in. His girlfriend, Edilia Arvelo, 18, was also in the car and died in the crash as well.
Taveras was signed as an international teenager by the Cardinals in 2008, beginning his career in the United States at the age of 16. He was a .321 hitter in the minor leagues over six season, and was about to make the leap into the pros in 2013, but an injury kept him in triple A for another year.
The 6’2 right fielder played in 80 games this season for the Cardinals, hitting a .239 in 234 at bats, producing three home runs and 22 RBIs. He appeared in seven of the nine playoff games the Cardinals had, each time coming off the bench as a pinch hitter, hitting a .429 with one home run and one RBI.
Before the 2014 season began, he was ranked by both MLB.com and Baseball America as the number 3 overall prospect in Baseball.