It is always hard to understand when a young gifted human being is taken from us and at 25 year old. Yordano Ventura of the Kansas City Royals was killed in a driving accident Sunday in the Dominican Republic. We all know him well from the Mets-Kansas City Royals World Series in 2015.
He was the power arm with a blazing 99-100 mph fastball, rare for a starting pitcher, and his fiery temper on the field would sometimes precipitate a bench clearing brawl. He was a throw back to how pitchers were back when they feared no one and felt they owned the entire plate and when they moved hitters off the inside of the box.
He will be missed on the field.
A tragedy of this is always a reminder of how precious life is and how we sometimes take things for granted and don’t appreciate the simple things in life.
We have lost St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Oscar Taveras in 2014, Miami’s Jose Fernandez last summer and now Ventura today. And to add even more to this sad story, former MLB player Andy Marte was also killed in a car accident today.
He was 33. Except for Fernandez, the others were all killed in driving accidents in the Dominican Republic.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to their families including their baseball families.
William Coppola completed his 40th year in baseball as a coach, instructor and advanced scout