Oscar Taveras, a St .Louis Cardinals outfielder, has reportedly died from a car accident which occurred on Sunday night in the Dominican Republic.
The Cardinals player,Oscar Taveras, who is 22 and a native of the Dominican Republic, is believed to have died with his 18-years-old girlfriend, who was riding with him at the time of the atal accident.
"We are all stunned and deeply saddened by the tragic loss of one of the youngest members of the Cardinals family," Bill DeWitt Jr, the Cardinals Chairman said in statement.
Oscar Taveras, who was considered one of the most promising baseball talents, "had been ranked as the second and third best prospect in the minor leagues by Baseball American, mlb.com and Baseball Prospectus," according to USA Today.
"Oscar was an amazing talent with a bright future who was taken from us well before his time. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family ad friends tonight," DeWitt Jr said.
Puerto Plate police have since confirmed that the Cardinals player died in the crash while heading for his hometown of Sosua, which is located near Puerto Plata, around the Atlantic Coast of the Republic.
Lieutenant Junior Lopez Reyes with the Puerto Plata said although officials suspect bad roads resulting from heavy rains might have caused the accident. He stressed that investigations into the circumstances that lead to the demise of the Cardinals player have commenced.
"We're still investigating at the scene. We've had some heavy rainfall here lately. It might have contributed to the accident," Reyes said.
"We are very saddened to learn of the news that a car accident has claimed the life of Oscar Tavares and his girlfriend in the Dominican Republic,' Tony Clark, director of MLB Players Association said in a statement.
He went further to say that the Cardinal player who died in the car crash "had a very promising future, on and off the field, and this news is heartbreaking on many levels."
"It's never easy to loose a member of our fraternity, and to lose one so young is devastating news," he added.
The Cardinals player who died in the car crash was drafted in 2009 as a free agent and has had batted 239 times in just 80 games this season.
"Oscar [Taveras], a young member of the Baseball family, was full of promise and at the dawn of a wonderful career in or game, evident in his game-tying home run against the giants exactly two weeks ago," MLB Commissioner Bud Selig said in a statement.
