Just a couple of years ago, there were two consensus top prospects in baseball, it just depended on the source as to who was rated higher.
There was Texas Rangers second baseman Jurickson Profar, and there was St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Oscar Taveras. After them, there was a pretty big drop before the next guy up.
On Sunday, Taveras and his girlfriend were both killed in a car accident in his native Dominican Republic. The loss is a big one in the same way Len Bias' was to the Boston Celtics back in the 80s as a can't-miss star who died far too young.
Of course, baseball takes a back seat in situations like this, but on that front, it is a bummer for the Cardinals, who watched Taveras mature on the field this season as a bench bat who hit .239 with three homers and 22 RBIs in 80 games this season. His last shining moment came just a couple of weeks ago when he hit a pinch-hit home run for the Cardinals in the NLCS against the Giants.
Of course, it led to a sadly cool moment on Sunday night when Giants outfielder Juan Perez hit a big two-run double in the Giants' 5-0 win over the Royals in Game 5 of the World Series. Perez is a countryman and close friend of Taveras' and was told about the news during Sunday night's game as the news was breaking.
"He's a really close friend of mine," Perez told reporters. "I know his family pretty good, I know his mom, his dad, his brothers, we were really close. It's a huge loss for all his family, his teammates and the people that care about him."
