Royals pitcher Yordano Ventura dies in car crash in Dominican Republic
Yordano Ventura, the hard-throwing and fearless right-hander who was a crucial part of two pennant-winning teams for the Kansas City Royals, was killed in a car accident in his native Dominican Republic on Sunday, the team confirmed on Sunday.
Ventura was 25.
Ventura was killed on the Juan Adrián highway in San Jose de Ocoa, according to Colonel Jacobo Mateo Moquete, director of communications for the military and police of the Dominican Republic.
Moquete said Ventura was the lone passenger in the vehicle.
Ventura started 93 games in his career with the Royals, posting a 38-31 record and 3.89 ERA, and going 27-18 in 2014-15, when the Royals won back-to-back American League pennants and the 2015 World Series. Ventura made nine postseason starts in those seasons.
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Reporter Cristian Moreno, who cited the Dominican police, was the first to report the news.
Ventura’s death comes more than two years after another very promising young player, outfielder Oscar Taveras, was killed in a car accident in the Dominican Republic. Taveras was 24 when he and his girlfriend were killed in Puerto Plata on Oct. 26, 2014. News of Taveras’ death emerged during Game 5 of the 2014 World Series, and Ventura started and won Game 6 to force a decisive Game 7.
Ventura pitched Game 6 with Taveras’ initials and uniform number on his cap.
In an odd coincidence, former major league infielder Andy Marte, 33, also died in a car crash in the Dominican over the weekend. Ventura was the starting pitcher in the final game of Marte's career, in August 2014.
Former top MLB prospect Andy Marte died in car crash
Fans everywhere mourn the tragic death of Royals pitcher Yordano Ventura
Perhaps generously listed at 6 feet and 195 pounds, Ventura bedeviled hitters with a fastball that averaged 96 mph and an often devastating slider. Yet he became perhaps best known for not backing down from opponents, a mentality that created on-field confrontations with the Chicago White Sox and Oakland Athletics, a mound-charging battle with Baltimore Orioles All-Star Manny Machado and a staredown at home plate with a much larger Mike Trout.
That attitude was both his salvation and, occasionally, his downfall.
Ventura won 14 games during his rookie season and was part of their playoff rotation. But in 2015, he was getting hit hard by batters and inciting occasional chaos on the field in response to his performance. The Royals optioned him to the minor leagues, recalling him in July when fellow starter Jason Vargas needed elbow surgery.
He returned a better pitcher, going 11-4 and striking out 98 batters in 91 innings as the Royals ran away with the AL Central. He started five postseason games, the Royals winning both of his starts, including the Game 6 clincher, in their conquest of the Toronto Blue Jays in the AL Championship Series.
"I know at times you were tough," infielder Christian Colon wrote in a posting on Twitter, "but I knew you were just misunderstood."
Ventura went 11-12 with a 4.45 ERA in 2016, earning $1 million in the second season of a five-year contract that guaranteed him $23 million. His death will create a signficant void in the Royals rotation, although the club's greater concern Sunday, of course, was remembering their fearless starter who developed from a skinny 16-year-old signed for a mere $28,000 to one of their key cogs in a glorious chapter in franchise history.
"Our prayers right now are with Yordano's family as we mourn this young man's passing," Royals general manager Dayton Moore said in a statement. "He was so young and so talented.
"We will get through this as an organization, but right now is a time to mourn and celebrate the life of Yordano."
