Oscar Taveras dead in a car accident

[Thriller Ant]

St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Oscar Taveras and one of the top prospects of the past several seasons died today in an auto accident in his native Dominican Republic, his agent confirmed to reporters there.

Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak expressed his condolences to the family, but said the team was awaiting more details before making a formal announcement.

Brian Mejia, Taveras' agent, told reporters that Taveras and his girlfriend died in the accident. No other details were immediately available.

Taveras, 22, debuted with the Cardinals this season and batted .239 in 80 games, finishing the season as a part-time outfielder.

The Cardinals were planning for him to compete with Randal Grichuk for the starting right field job but wanted him to focus on improving his conditioning during this offseason.

Over the past several years, he had been ranked as the second- and third-best prospect in the minor leagues by Baseball American, mlb.com and Baseball Prospectus. He was a .320 hitter over six minor league seasons, including .386 as a teenager in the Class A Midwest League in 2011

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sport...-oscar-taveras-dies-in-car-accident/17977685/

I don't know if full articles are out yet, but it's all over Twitter. Apparently him and his girlfriend passed away in the wreck in the Dominican Republic. I am in absolute shock right now. He was 22.

RIP

 

[The Butcher]

Wow. The kid was gonna be huge. This is bigger than baseball, though. RIP.

 

[smizzy]

Fucking heartbroken.

I remember reading an article on the Post-Dispatch in 2011 about how Albert Pujols was raving about one of our young prospects, turning out to be Oscar. Since then I've followed him closely. I watched live from home when he hit his first career home run in his second career at bat. I watched live as he hit the game tying blast against the Giants in the NLCS. I was looking forward to seeing these big moments from him for years to come.

Sickened. Rest easy. St. Louis will always remember you.

 

[Akhilleus]

Couldn't believe it, the kid was so young. So was his girlfriend too. He was such a phenomenal player. It's incredibly sad when you think about the future he's not going to have. Way too young for such an incredible guy to go.

R.I.P.

 

[smizzy]

Also noteworthy: Taveras and his girlfriend have a young child.

The whole situation is nothing short of terrible.

 

[PeterSellersSTL]

didn't find out until after hiac, just devastating, it hasn't been a particularly good year for the lou. Just one big black cloud. I too have been looking forward to him debuting since I found out about him sometime ago. I absolutely hate car accidents. I don't know how many ways I can express my sadness...I didn't know he was a father. I remember his first at bat being a homerun and his last at bat being a homerun both against the Giants. 22 years young.

 

[Bagpipes]

Oh wow, they had a child too? Really sad story. OT had real talent, but as someone said this is bigger than baseball.

R.I.P.