St. Louis Cardinals: Top Prospect Taveras Dies in Car Crash

St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Oscar Taveras was involved in a fatal car accident in his home country of the Dominican Republic, multiple reports confirmed Sunday evening.  His girlfriend also lost her life in the crash, according to USA Today's Paul White and Jorge L. Ortiz.

The 22-year-old Taveras was one of the most talented young players in all of baseball, ranked the third-best prospect in Baseball America's Top 100 ranking list compiled in February 2014 and projected to be the Cardinals' cornerstone player for years to come

He was called up to play right field for the big league club on May 31 of this year and promptly hit his first career home run in his MLB debut.  For the season, Taveras hit .239 with three homers, 22 RBI, eight doubles and 18 runs scored.

He struggled to adjust to big league pitching, but he had the necessary athleticism, makeup and skill for scouts across the league to project Taveras as a jewel.  The Cardinals even traded away their starting right fielder, Allen Craig, at the 2014 trade deadline to make room for Taveras.

Despite his rough regular season, Taveras came up big in the playoffs.  He shared playing time in right field with Randal Grichuk in the postseason, but he came off the bench to hit a game-tying home run in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series, a game that the Cardinals went on to win.

My thoughts and prayers go out to the Taveras family as well as the St. Louis organization.