Royals’ Ventura dies in car crash
Pitcher helped KC win ’15 World Series
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Yordano Ventura quit school as a teenager so he could begin working a construction job to help his family make ends meet, laboring day after day in the hot sun of the Dominican Republic.
It was a chance tryout with the Kansas City Royals that changed the trajectory of his life.
Yordano wowed scouts with an electrifying fastball, the best they had seen in years, and a confident demeanor that bordered on brash and arrogant. And both of those traits served him well as he rocketed to the major leagues, helped the Royals win a long-awaited World Series championship in 2015, and became one of the most popular players in a city that embraced baseball one again.
Ventura, whose nickname “Ace” fit so perfectly, died Sunday in a car crash on a stretch of highway near the town of San Adrian in his native Dominican Republic. He was 25.
“Our team and our organization is hurting deeply,” Royals general manager Dayton Moore said. “It’s certainly something that puts everything into strong perspective, and challenges us all to never grow tired or weary or cease to do what is right, and loving others. Nobody is guaranteed tomorrow.
“We loved Yordano,” Moore
said. “We loved his heart, we loved who he was as a teammate, a friend. He was somebody that challenged us all and made us better and I’m going to miss him.”
Highway patrol spokesman Jacobo Mateo said Ventura died on a stretch of highway 40 miles northwest of Santo Domingo, the nation’s capital. Mateo did not say whether Ventura was driving.
He’s the second young star pitcher to die in past four months. Marlins ace Jose Fernandez was 24 when he was killed along with two other men in a boating accident near Miami Beach in late September.
Also Sunday, former major league infielder Andy Marte died in a separate car accident in the Dominican Republic. Metropolitan traffic authorities said he died about 95 miles north of the capital.
“I was traveling to the airport this morning and I got a phone call wanting to know if I’d heard about Yordano, and I thought they meant Marte,” Moore said. “My first thought was, ‘Were they together?’
“Then shortly afterwards, I got a call from Major League Baseball confirming this tragedy.”
The Dominican Republic has the second-highest traffic-related death rate in the world — officials there believe alcohol, speed and a blatant disregard for traffic laws is to blame. Oscar Taveras, Jose Oliva, Rufino Linares and Jose Uribe are among players who have died in crashes in the country.
It wasn’t known whether Ventura had been drinking or speeding at the time of his accident.
Hall of Fame pitcher Pedro Martinez, a fellow Dominican whom Ventura called his hero, posted pictures of Ventura and Marte on Twitter and said, “Guys, the only way we can pay tribute to you, is by reflecting on the adjustments we all have to make in this game called life.”
Moore speaks frequently with Latin American players about dangers of returning home, including driving on the perilous roads.
“I’m more intentional about it to the point where it probably goes in one ear and out the other,” Moore said, “but we’re constantly discussing these things.”