October 26, 2014 was one of the
worst days of my life as a Cardinals fan. Oscar Taveras was killed in a single
car accident along with his girlfriend, Edilia Arvelos. I, along with many in
Cardinal Nation were absolutely devastated because we had been following Oscar
for years and he was just about to start what many thought was a climb towards
stardom. It has been reported recently
that Oscar was drunk at the time of the crash that caused his death. Many opinions of Oscar’s death
have changed since this news came out but regardless, this was still a tragedy.
Cardinal Nation and Major League Baseball lost a young man (and woman). Along
with losing these two amazing human beings, the Cardinals Organization lost a potential future All-Star. St Louis Cardinal GM John Mozaliak had called Oscar "the
organization's top hitting prospect since Albert Pujols".
Now fast forward to November 17,
2014. This was the day that the Cardinals found their answer to “replace”
Oscar. In a trade involving Shelby Miller, Tyrell Jenkins, and Jordan Walden,
the Cardinal addressed their right field needs by acquiring Jason Heyward. Oscar Taveras and Jason Heyward actually share some similarities. The Cardinals signed Taveras at age 16 in 2008. Heyward started playing professional ball for the Braves at the very young age of
17. We all remember Oscar's legendary homerun in the rain in his debut right? Well Heyward hit a homerun in his MLB debut too... in his first at bat! Both Oscar and Jason had a ton of hype as minor leaguers and at times did not live up to all of the hype that were attached to their names.
At least for the 2015 season,
Heyward will be patrolling the right field position that many thought Oscar
would be. I know an extension isn't set in stone but I have a feeling that Jason is going to fall in love with St. Louis and vice versa. I personally would love to see Jason play in right field for St. Louis for many years to come and perhaps help to heal some of the pain that Oscar's death caused.
-@BirdsOnTheBat13
-
No comments:
Post a Comment