Further Details About Cardinals' Taveras Killed In Car Crash

(SportsNetwork.com) -- St. Louis Cardinals rookie Oscar Taveras died Sunday in an automobile accident in his native Dominican Republic, the team and a police official said.

Taveras was 22.

"We  are  all stunned  and deeply  saddened by the  tragic loss  of one of the youngest  members of the Cardinals family," Cardinals chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. said in a statement. "Oscar was an amazing talent with a bright future who was taken  from  us well  before his time.  Our thoughts and  prayers are with his family and friends tonight."

A police spokesman  Jacobo  Mateo Moquete  tweeted  that Taveras  lost control of his car driving between Cabarete and Sosua in Puerto Plata. He said Taveras  and  a young  woman in  the car  with him  -- reportedly the player's girlfriend -- were both killed instantly.

"I simply can't believe it," Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak said in a statement.  "I first  met Oscar  when he  was 16  years old  and will  forever remember  him as  a wonderful  young  man who  was  a gifted  athlete with  an infectious love for life who lived every day to the fullest."

Players expressed condolences  and shock on social media over the loss of one of the top offensive prospects in baseball.

"Absolute tragedy," Cardinals teammate Matt Carpenter tweeted.

Taveras batted .239  in 80 games this season with three home runs and 22 RBI.

One of his biggest moments came just two weeks before his death when he hit a game-tying, pinch-hit home run in the seventh inning to help the Cardinals win Game 2 of the National League Championship Series on Oct. 12.

His last  appearance came  in Game 5  on Oct.  16, when he  grounded out as a pinch-hitter  in the top  of the ninth inning and remained in the game to play right  field.  He was  in right  when Travis Ishikawa  homered into the stands behind him to win the series for San Francisco.

News of Taveras' death broke  during Game 5 of  the World Series between the Kansas City Royals and Giants in San Francisco.

MLB Commissioner Bud Selig offered the league's condolences in a statement and said  the game was  being played with "heavy hearts ... in the memory of these two young people."

"Oscar,  a young member of the baseball family, was full of promise and at the dawn  of  a wonderful career  in our game, evident  in his game-tying home run against the Giants exactly two weeks ago," Selig said.

The Cardinals said they would provide details about funeral arrangements at a later time.

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