Royals right-hander Yordano Ventura died in a car crash in the Dominican Republic on Sunday morning. This was a separate crash from the one that took the life of fellow Dominican Andy Marte. Ventura was 25 years old.
“Our prayers right now are with Yordano’s family as we mourn this young man’s passing,” said Royals general manager Dayton Moore in a team-issued statement. “He was so young and so talented, full of youthful exuberance and always brought a smile to everyone he interacted with. We will get through this as an organization, but right now it is time to mourn and celebrate the life of Yordano.”
Tragically, Ventura is the second major league pitcher who has died over the past four months. Former Marlins ace Jose Fernandez passed away after a boating accident on Sept. 25. Like Fernandez, Ventura was an exceptional, hard-throwing talent who emerged as a key long-term building block for his franchise.
Ventura signed with the Royals for a meager $28K as an international free agent in 2008. After climbing up the minor league ladder, Ventura ranked as Baseball America’s 26th-best prospect at the conclusion of the 2013 campaign. He debuted in the majors that year and then became a full-time big leaguer in 2014.
Ventura was a standout as a rookie, as he pitched to a 3.20 ERA over 183 innings to help the Royals clinch their first playoff berth since 1985. His top performance that postseason came under awful circumstances in Kansas City’s Game 6 victory over the Giants in the World Series. After learning two days earlier that his friend, fellow Dominican and former Cardinals outfielder Oscar Taveras died (also in a car crash), Ventura fired seven shutout, three-hit innings in a 10-0 romp and dedicated the performance to Taveras. The Royals went on to lose Game 7, but they returned to the Fall Classic in 2015 to defeat the Mets and end a 30-year championship drought.
Prior to the 2015 campaign, Ventura inked a five-year, $23MM extension that could have been worth $45MM and kept him with the Royals through the 2021 season. While Ventura’s final two seasons included some rocky moments, including suspensions for separate dust-ups with then-White Sox outfielder Adam Eaton and Orioles third baseman Manny Machado, the potential was there for him to evolve into one of the game’s top starters. Instead, as is the case with Fernandez, baseball and its fans will never know what Ventura would have accomplished had he enjoyed a long career.
For the second time Sunday, we at MLBTR send our condolences to the family, friends, fans and organization of a player gone too soon. Eerily, Ventura was on the mound as the opposing pitcher for Marte’s last major league game on Aug. 6, 2014.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Holy hell.
Just found out. RIP Ventura.
Wow.
What is going on in the DR?!
THAT’S WHAT I WONDERED!
My thoughts exactly.. I can’t get the image of Ventura pitching in the World Series the day after Oscar Taveras passed out of my head. When Ventura honorer him with the OT18 written on his hat. So sad for all three families.
RIP… By far the worst few months in baseball I can remember
Another one today? I send my prayers to both families.
My goodness.
Damn…
Such a sad day. Thoughts and prayers go out to the Ventura family and the Royals organization. RIP Yordano
RIP Yordano.
Gosh. 2 in one morning.
I was just about to say a lot of players seem to die in car crashes in the DR on the other post.
I was in the DR a few months ago, and the driving there is insane. I was in a cab going from Sosua to Cabarete and the driver actually clipped a guy on a motorcycle. I saw him wipeout in the rear view mirror. I asked the driver if he was gonna stop to help him, and he just shrugged and said he’ll be fine.
It’s similar in all the other Latin American countries I’ve been to and some of those countries don’t even investigate deaths.
Why……..can it just stop already. I can’t take to many more of these heartbreaks
Wow. RIP.
Wtf man why is everyone dieing
Why are there so many accident related fatalities in the Dominican? RIP Yordano.
Not sure about this case yet, but based on previous ones, there’s apparently a lot of heavy drinking and/or drugs mixed with driving way too fast. Wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case here as well.
Either way, RIP and prayers to their families.
And quite a few very dangerous roads, apparently.
Seriously? Don’t do that. You have zero idea what happened.
According to ESPN the police believe it was drunk driving.
He didn’t imply that Ventera was the one drunk or on drugs. If there was another car involved, they could have been the ones that caused it
It’s like Priggs89 said and also has to do with how people drive. DR is one of the worst places to drive. It happens every day.
Yesterday was a holiday over there and many people like to drink and drive.
The problem is that, when they go back to DR they like to Drink an Drive like they are on a car race!
I assume you’ve never traveled there. Roads are terrible and the drivers are arguably even worse. Jamaica is no different
Horrible. He now can see Jose and oscar in heaven
RIP Yordano
So sad to hear! One of my favorites to watch on the Royals. Rest in Peace, Yordano. You will be missed.
What is going on?
Oh dang. RIP man…
Oh my god
so sad for such a promising young man
This is terrible…..what a tragedy.
Rip Ventura. You were great
Not another one. This is so tragic. Very young kids with so much money and fame so early and maybe not enough guidance on how to handle it all. Prayers for his family and the Royals.
Rest In Peace
That is very sad! My prayers go out to his family and the Royals organization for their loss.
These two and Oscar Taveras a couple years ago. Terrible.
omg. I am sick to my stomach, why is all this crap happening..
Cannot take these young deaths, God I hope he wasn’t drinking or anything. like Jose.
REST IN PEACE..GOD WATCH OVER ALL
Omg! This is unbelievable, and to the guy who pitched a WS in honor of the death of his friend Oscar Taveras. May he RIP 🙁
Oh no this hurts :(. So sad. RIP Ventura.
Insane. This was hard to believe at first.
Oh my god. Yordano Ventura liked to cause a lot of trouble, but he didn’t deserve this.
All these crashes are taking great pitchers may he Rest In Peace
Plz be fake
I wish it were so, but I don’t think so.
Royals confirmed his death. rip
Absolutely horrible news 🙁 I sure hope nobody makes a Manny Machado joke here
What would the joke be? I don’t get it.
Never mind. I remember.
Reports coming in that both Marte and Ventura were under the influence. Saw this in Rotoworld,
Christian Moreno of ESPN.
I don’t like driving over there, especially at night. Very little visibility and some of the roads are really bad. RIP to both Andy Marte and Yordano Ventura.
KCTV5 is reporting it because Newscast just waiting for comment from Royals. MLB Network has the Babe on.
Like most places outside of the USA to the south… Roads are bad, traffic enforcement is essentially nonexistent. Add in fast cars and party time (in the case of Taveras, have not seen the details on today’s crashes yet) and it’s a recipe for disaster.
Wow. So sad. RIP. From the Royals perspective though, he recently signed an extension, right? So I would assume they don’t have to pay out the rest of the contract, and now potentially have the flexibility to extend another one of their upcoming FA’s?
Ventura just died and you’re worried about money?
smh
Why in the world would money and contracts be your first thought? Come on man, act like a human
Guys, it wasn’t my first thought. I read the article about 2 minutes after it was posted, and then commented some time after. I am truly very saddened by this.
Contract is now gone. The money is freed up for the totals to do whatever they want.
Oh cmon…. Too soon man. Ventura was a building block for the future of the Royals. He was an ace pitcher w the talent to become a hall of fame pitcher. Very heartbreaking
What? He died and that sucks, but Ace/HOF? Let’s just appreciate what he did, no need to just make stuff up
How dare you
How dare he be honest about a pitchers ability? The guy wasnt that good. Still sad he died, but if Freddy Galvis died would we act like hes an elite SS?
^ sarcasm. I agree 100%. And to answer your question – yes, I’m sure some on here would act like he’s an elite SS if that were to happen.
TBH he is an elite fielder, but definitely not hitter.
Nobody else is reporting Yordano’s death yet, including ESPN. Holding out hope it’s not true, but i sadly think it is. Wow, horrible!
And the news has broken elsewhere. So, so sad…
It’s on mlb.com homepage. Such a shame.
They had a break from the talking heads talking about the NFL title games. Not much is known. I’m hoping it didn’t involve alcohol. The photos of tavaras after the crash were horrifying. I just hope he didn’t suffer any pain.
RIP
That s*** is krizz kray. RIP
Dunno if this is true but someone sent me a tweet that marte’s last game in MLB was against KC… SP that game was Yordano
Crazy… either way RIP and prayers !!!
I’ve only been to the Dominican three times in my life. I can say that while driving from the airport to resorts, I’ve felt like I was going to be taken out by erratic drivers any time I was in a moving vehicle.
Apparently they were drunk
Yeah, and it’s so sad. Why do these guys with all the money they have not find alternate means to get home? Cab? Private driver?…..not sure if DR has uber or anything like that but if there are other options why not use them?
Without seeing the details of Ventura, or Marte… it may be a totally different scenario. But, think of Tavares and Fernandez… living fast and taking chances. It’s not about them having the ability to get around safe, it’s about them having the judgement.
Everyone did stupid things when they were young. Sometimes the consequences are deadly
Such a sad day in MLB. Prayers and condolences to these players families and their current and former teammates. Gone way too soon.
Ventura’s death leaves a huge void in the KC rotation as was the case with Fernandez
Yes, we are all aware of the huge void. Not sure why this is a first concern with people
Righteous indignation noted
Go home, hug your wife, husband, and kids, call your parents, and never leave anyone angry or anything unsaid. No one, none of us are guaranteed tomorrow = (
Sio true
This is as insane as it is heartbreaking. RIP to both of the guys this morning, and I continue to say that to Fernandez and Taveras.
I hope this gets through to the other young Dominican players that they are not immortal so no more families (and to a lesser degree – the baseball world) has to endure any more of this heartbreak. Sounds almost like there needs to be some additional life coaching, reality checking going on in these minor league systems. I hate reading these reports. RIP to all.
Baseball needs to do better job educating players about dangers of drinking.
Baseball shouldn’t need to educate them
Its not MLB’s responsibility to tell players how to live. You take responsibility for your own actions. .
Nobody deserves to die RIP
damn just a sad 48 hrs for baseball. rip
Terrible news… RIP Yordano… My condolences to his Family and Friends…
Omg my condolences to family, friends and the Royals organization. As if Jose’s death wasn’t bad enough…
RIP Yordano you will live forever in our hearts
Yordano RIP number 30 thank you for what you brought to the Royals you will be missed!
Oh man. Really sad to see anyone so young die. He was tremendously talented and although he had a bad temper and was quite immature, I remember watching him bring joy to all people and players around him. Rest In Peace. I pray and hope he was a Christian and may he be in a much better place. God bless his family and friends in such a tragic time.
Please do not bring religion into this. Very low to use someone’s death as an opportunity to preach to people. It’s none of your business what his beliefs are. STFU
Sorry you took it that way. Not at all what I meant to do. Some people just operate to hate I guess. And yes, I can hope and pray he was a Christian. Nothing wrong with that.
Agreed chieftoto
Why do you hope he was a Christian? Is that a guarantee that you go to heaven? Are non-Christians not eligible? That’s pure BS.
No it’s not a guarantee but yes I believe you can’t go to heaven if you aren’t a christian (only because that IS what the Bible says). I don’t mean to start talking philosophy and theology on this site, but you asked so don’t yell.
Troll. He wasn’t preaching to anyone.
Oh my god what the hell is wrong with the world?
I mean RIP but wow
very sad. like Oscar this was a promising player who had the tools. Sad to see him gone so soon. RIP YV and AM.
8 people died from car accidents in my DR. please Latinos let’s make concient about this. While our government just want to make their pockets bigger our people is dying and living like animals without laws. The biggest problem we don’t respect traffic signs, we over drink and drive, and once we get a couple of dollars we think we become supermen. it hurts me my people are dying so young. Please please please let’s stop this.
Well said
What this guy said
This type of tragedy has been happening with players going back to South America in the offseason ever since Latino players have filled the ranks of MLB rosters…if I was an owner I think I might start devising a way to put certain language in their contracts that would provide these players a driver, or some other way to circumvent this from continuing to happen
One of my fav pitchers :/ i ALWAYS traded for him on MLB the show, and still will.
So full of swagger and passion
RIP Yordano
Geezus. Do we think it’s time to try and do something to keep these guys safe when they’re back home in the offseason? I don’t have any idea what that would be. But I for one am fatigued of these guys getting killed in totally preventable and unnecessary tragic accidents when they have the whole world ahead of them.
God bless his soul and cover his family and friends with His love, comfort, and healing. RIP
Terrible. Rest in peace.
Shocking to me that so many people have this “serves him right” judgment based on the rumor that he was DWI — or worse, that he threw brushback pitches.
Why not focus on the lessons here, or try to show compassion? I fear that people just would rather judge others and not learn or grow. I also fear that compassion is becoming a rare virtue.
People make bad decisions. We can learn from them by not repeating them. We can’t learn from them if we just point fingers and say “serves him right”.
I wish peace to all who are saddened by these deaths.
Gone too soon RIP
Wow just a month away from pitchers and catchers to report. RIP YV
I won’t jump to conclusions on how it happened…fact is a young life is gone :/ . RIP Yordano Ventura . Sad day for baseball. #RIPMarte
Andy Martes last career game was in August 2014 in a game against the Royals. The Royals starter that game was Ventura (they did not face each other though. Marte was a PH in the 9th). That’s crazy though.
RIP :/ Gone too soon. Just a warning. People BETTER keep their nasty comments to themselves. This IS NOT the time to defame his character and or bring up is “negative personality traits”.
These countries where MLB sets up shop like DR, Venezuela, and others are poverty stricken and possibly uneducated in drinking and driving. They all of a sudden millionaires maybe not tightest of families and do irresponsible things. Fernandez and Tavares list goes on. Fernandez yes from Cuba. Is it the same day as a Mike Trout who has strong family to keep him in check I don’t know.
Someone voted you down, and is funny, cuz you are 100% correct. That is the culture and driving over there is actually one of the most dangerous places.
Voted me down? Owners of teams don’t care
70% of people in these countries are poverty stricken and prob uneducated. Owners build these baseball academies to make $ on the good players. Do they go over do’s and don’t and having $ and acting like fools, prob not they go over what makes them better player
I think you’re referring to Edison Volquez.
Did Ventura have kids?
wow,I never liked his antics,but felt he was one hell of a talent,so very sad,my prayers go out to his family, friends, and fans
Oh my god. Stay classy, mlbtr commentariat.
I’m so sad to hear this don’t they have traffic laws there ?
Dude, this is no laws at all. They are actually matching over there because a group of politicians were bribe with 92mm and no one is going to jail.
RIP
RIP Yordano
So sad, he was taken way to young.
My thoughts and prayers go out to him and his family, as well as the organization and all those he touched during his time.
RIP Ventura
Just as horrible as it gets. RIP.
Rest In Peace Yordano Ventura and Andy Marte, prayers to both players family.
I know it’s their home, and their families are ther, for the most part, but I don’t understand why all of these players continue to go back to the Dominican Republic during the offseason. I understand even less of why they don’t make some sort of arrangements where they don’t get in a car and drive around while they’re there. Too many situations like this in the last couple of years, and it’s just so sad, and hard to comprehend how these things keep happening. All I know from the info I’ve learned during these situations is that the roads in the DR are crazy, amd there are no traffic laws, for the most part. Just 2 young guys with a lot of talent gone way too soon in 2 separate incidents. Andy Marte was supposed to be a superstar 3rd baseman when he was a top prospect 10 years ago. It didn’t work out, but he was still just 33 years old. RIP Andy Marte. And I just can’t believe it about Yordano Ventura. 25 years old…just a couple of months older than me. Also, gone way too soon. What a talent. The kid threw a bullet fastball 100+, could touch 103 mph as a SP. He didn’t always know where it was going, but man he was electric, with that fastball and the combination with that slider and changeup. He was a World Series Champion, and he at least signed an extension and made a little money for his family (a team friendly extension). I’m just so shocked to once again, be waking up to this kind of news, but this kind of thing does that to you…man, Edinson Volquez has had a tough couple of weeks, and a tough year+ (a couple of months). He loses his father, Jose Fernandez, his younger brother gets stabbed to death a couple of weeks ago, and now he loses his very close countrymen, former teammate, and friend, almost another younger brother). RIP Yordano Ventura. My deepest thoughts and prayers are with his family, the Kansas City Royals, and all of those around the game that are mourning this tragic loss. As a Marlins fan, I have definitely shared this same feeling of loss. We’ve got a real pitchers duel going on somewhere
No player will stay here for the off-season. There whole family lives over there. You have Christmas and other holidays. The problem is with the laws and freedom of drinking and driving.
No alcohol found in the car and toxicology won’t be back for 3 weeks.. let’s not assume he was drunk already… coulda just been driving fast and lost control..
Like how the initial reports when Fernandez died said there was no evidence of alcohol or illegal drugs being involved?
Wasn’t his wife and three kids in the car with him?
I think we would’ve heard that by now if that was the case… Sure hope not though.
Wow Rip in Ventura I’ll miss seeing your fights going viral I could easily tell you played the game you loved with passion
RIP to Yordano Ventura man I can’t sit here and lie and say I loved him as a player, but damn was I jealous that a player could care that much about the game that his emotions and the game’s intensity gas such close correlation. He had so much talent and you could tell he was so loved by the people around. I send my love out to his wife, his children, his parents, grandparents and all his teammates and friends in his life and hope that they can see, that in times like this, there is a little bit of hope because we all feel the pain as well and don’t have to go through it alone. Rest in paradise Yordano
R.I.P.
This is so tragic in so many ways.
5 active MLB players have now died in the last 22 months.
That’s a lot, and doesn’t include people like Marte and the long list of minor leaguers.
Random question. But I assume the contact ends with death. And the team likely has term life insurance policies on players they extend.
This might be too soon, but how does this affect the Royals ability to sign a replacement pitcher and their 2017 payroll?
Who were the other two besides Fernandez, Tavares and Ventura?
Tommy Hanson
And Landa and Sanchez
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_baseball_players_w…
26.
I have socks that old. What a terrible waste.
you have 26 year old socks? that is disgusting
Yea let’s hope he only has them and doesn’t wear them . I don’t even think I have 2 year old socks these days
Oh, my gosh. This is terrible. He, like fernandez had a bright future and they both made the game of baseball interesting and fun. RIP Yordano. 🙁
I can only hope his family finds peace.
RIP..another life cut way to short..prayers to his familia
Very sad…. but players need to grow up and slow down …. Be safe…???
“After learning two days earlier that his friend, fellow Dominican and former Cardinals outfielder Oscar Taveras died (also in a car crash)…”
You feel like he would have learned after seeing what happened to Taveras.
Red rooster believes Ventura deserved to die because of “Darwinism”. Report him please.
it was a pretty stupid comment but i really don’t think he was saying Yordano “deserved to die” … chill out
Pretty sure it will get deleted, they came in and wiped out 1/3 of the comments that were on here because people (myself included) were arguing about whether or not “it served him right”
Report a post that doesn’t violate the rules because his opinions hurt your feelings? Perhaps you should find a safe(r) place to spend your time. The internet may be too mean for you.
Yeah I didn’t really see anything in here that was report/delete worthy but apparently someone felt differently and wiped out about 50 comments
You didn’t read his comment I assume.Expressing glee over a man’s death is never okay. And as far as my thin-skinned nature, I believe I’m pretty much the only person here using my real name, as opposed to all you anonymous cowards.
I read a ton of them and picked a fight most of the people posting them…they came in and deleted a good majority of them
So sad to hear this news. Condolences to his friends and family, the grieving nation of the DR, his teammates and to the Royals community.
And to those of you who were quick to judge or jump to conclusions, and get on your moral soapbox over a senseless tragedy- this, per the Kansas City Star:
“Shortly after this conversation, Moore will hear that Dominican officials found no sign of alcohol at the scene. Ventura wasn’t wearing his seat belt and was driving through a thick fog on a mountainous stretch of highway. He may have slid off the road, and overcorrected, his body partially thrown from the vehicle.”
Not to assume like everyone else has, but “authorities not finding alcohol at the scene” means nothing. That exact same thing was reported in the early stages of the investigation into Jose Fernandez’s death, and was later found that they were all drunk.
If someone goes to a bar, gets drunk, and leaves in their car, why would there be evidence of alcohol at the scene? There are a million different ways you can drive drunk without there being alcohol at the scene.
There’s no way of knowing anything until toxicology reports are done, and authorities at the scene cannot do toxicology tests.
Wow. This is and any martes death are both tragic. What a three months for the baseball world. Gone way too soon. And btw, if you haven’t seen the video of danny duffy hugging fans i highly suggest you do. It’s absolutely touching. RIP Yordana and RIP andy
I’ve seen a few of both overly righteous people saying “I don’t wanna see anyone saying anything slanderous about him” and a few of people acknowledging the somewhat questionable behavior he had at times in the big leagues, and I think a reporter on mlb tonight put it best. When you lose a family member, you remember everything about them. Just because they did something that sometimes upset you, doesn’t mean that you loved them any less, and doesn’t mean that you should forget that part of the person that you are sad to have lost. While it may be corny to put much stock in some reporter from kansas city, who I’ve never followed a day in my life, I still feel like his words really cut deep. After all, anyones death at such a young age is a travesty, and in a perfect world this would never happen. Sadly this world is imperfect, and we must all try our best to carry on, and keep the memory of those taken too early alive.
I don’t want this to get taken the wrong way but why does it always have to be the young ones? I am not saying I would rather the old pitchers die(trust me I don’t want that, I love me some Bartolo) but why does it have have to be the young guys that leave us wondering “what if?” Obviously Ventura isn’t as big of a name as Fernandez was but he one day in my opinion would be on his level. He was my kind of player, he played on the edge and played with his hart. I always liked watching him pitch and now I will probably be watching his highlight videos for the rest of my life like I do with Fernandez. Now as for Marte, I never really saw him play since I am still young(19) and didn’t become a big baseball fan until I was like 14 so I didn’t really know much about him but from what I read he was a pretty good player, but that doesn’t matter, good or bad, young or old it is always sad when someone leaves us especially when it is unexpected and WAY to soon. My thoughts are with both players and their friends, family’s and former organizations they played for and former teammates that they played with RIP
My deepest condolences to the Ventura family, MLB and all baseball fans.
It makes me extremely sad that all these guys are dying. i’ve loved baseball my whole life. i’ts supposed to be an escape and a source of joy and fun and entertainment. . I’m 24 and all these kids dying around my age just breaks my heart. My best friend Mike died a month after Jose died. he was 25. RIP Yordano and Andy, Oscar, Jose and Mike.. Please take the message, young Latin players. Be careful out there.
Sad R.I.P
Can you guys update the story about how he was found alive but instead of being helped he was stripped of his belongs including his world series ring then assaulted him and left him for dead please ..
Is really true? He was thrown from his car he probably died instantly.