Mike Matheny needed some time to figure out what to say. Like the rest of the St. Louis Cardinals, the manager was leveled by the sudden death of Oscar Taveras.
The Cardinals are grieving the loss of an active player for the third time in 12 years after the 22-year-old Taveras died Sunday in a car crash in the Dominican Republic. Matheny, general manager John Mozeliak and pitcher Carlos Martinez were part of a group from the organization with plans to attend a private burial service Tuesday in Taveras’ country.
“I was asked last night to give some words regarding the tragic death of Oscar Taveras, but I just simply couldn’t,” Matheny said Monday in a statement. “To say this is a horrible loss of a life ended too soon would be an understatement.”
Taveras was a teenager when he signed with St. Louis as an international free agent in 2008. He was regarded as one of baseball’s top prospects and homered in his major league debut on May 31. He also had a big solo drive in the seventh inning of Game 2 in the NL Championship Series against San Francisco.
“He was someone that became an identity of our organization to some degree,” Mozeliak said in a conference call with St. Louis media before a visitation Monday night. “When you think about how much has been written about him and how much has been talked about him, he never truly got a chance to show it at the major league level.”
Mozeliak said he took a connecting flight from Miami with Taveras’ father.
“Clearly, he was shaken by these events,” the GM said.
Taveras was driving a 2014 Chevrolet Camaro at the time of the accident on a highway between the beaches of Sosua and Cabarete in Puerto Plata, about 345 kilometers north of the capital of Santo Domingo. Edilia Arvelo, Taveras’ 18-year-old girlfriend, also died in the crash.
A funeral for Arvelo was held Monday in her hometown of Moca.
Highway police spokesman Col. Diego Pesqueira said the road was wet from a recent rain but the cause of the crash is under investigation. An autopsy was done Monday but results weren’t available.
Moises Rodriguez, the international scouting director for the Cardinals, called Mozeliak with the news Sunday night. (AP)
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