The baseball world received some awful news when it was confirmed that New York Yankees prospect Sandy Acevedo was killed in a car crash this weekend.
The Yankees were in the news for all the wrong reasons on Sunday. The team did not fare well against their division rival, Tampa Bay Rays losing by a score of 8-1. During the game they lost Alex Rodriguez to an oblique strain, but the storyline that seems to have gone under the radar all weekend is the tragic loss of one of their most promising young prospects, Sandy Acevedo.
On Saturday night Acevedo lost his life in a tragic car accident in the Dominican Republic. The details of the crash are not clear at this time, but the Yankees did come out with a statement confirming that the 18 year old prospect had passed away in his home country.
The Yankees signed the 3B as an international free agent in 2015. He was scheduled to begin his professional career as a member of the Rookie Level Gulf Coast League.
Acevedo is the latest in a series of tragic auto related deaths that have occurred in the Dominican republican. Over the course of 6 days in January, 23 year-old Astros pitching prospect Jose Rosario and 20 year-old Orioles prospect Ramon Ramirez were killed in motorcycle accidents. Oscar Taveras, a highly touted Cardinals prospect was killed in a car crash in Puerto Plata on October 27, 2014.
in 2015, Scout.com conducted an interview where New York Yankees Director of International Scouting, Donny Rowland discussed the discovery of Acevedo and what peaked his interest in signing the international free agent.
“Acevedo was one of the hitters that we brought in to face pitching prospect Yoan Lopez, [now the D-backs’ No. 8 prospect], and he absolutely owned him in three out of four at-bats and crushed stuff,” said Rowland.
“That’s where our staff became sold on this guy. ‘We like the pitcher, but who is the hitter?”
A moment of silence was held for Acevedo at Yankee Stadium prior to first pitch on Sunday afternoon and a picture of him at the plate was shown on the jumbotron during the tribute.
