Jim Morrison once wrote “death makes angels of us all.” Well, Sunday the St. Louis Cardinals lost their brightest star for the future in Oscar Tavares. His game clinching homer in the playoffs this year, and his steady-but-not-spectacular play as a rookie in 2014 was supposed to be the springboard to a superstar career.

Oscar was a consensus top-five prospect going into both the 2013 and 2014 seasons. He was tabbed to be able to hit for a high average with better than average power. Had he lived up to his hype we could have expected a .300/.480/.385 kind of hitter with 30 doubles and 25 homers most seasons for the next decade if not better.

Sadly he didn’t get to live up to the hype … he didn’t get to live.

I was Facebook friends with him. His English was improving and, while his interaction with his fans was minimal in a direct way, you could see that with assistance from his management he was trying to embrace the 21st century star athlete role through digital media, the social media and on the field, where it is reported that he planned to come into 2015 in much better shape so he could gain serious playing time with the perennial central division champs.

Sadly, his girlfriend was also in the accident with him, and has passed as well.

It’s a tragedy when a Roberto Clemente or Thurman Munson are killed during their careers, but at least they were allowed the chance to have careers. At 22 years old Tavares’ was just starting. His ceiling was the stars, and his potential will now be put to rest.

My heart goes out to his family, his friends, his teammates, and to the family and friends of his GF.