In memoriam: Yordano Ventura, Andy Marte

The baseball world, and by extension the DMBL world, lost two players last month to tragic car accidents in the Dominican Republic: Yordano Ventura, who was just 25, and 33-year-old Andy Marte, who was drafted as a budding prospect in the mid-2000s but never made the DMBL.
It's the third death of a player in the past six months.

Ventura, was selected as a prospect by Livingston in the 6th round, 93rd overall, in the 2014 draft. By April, they packaged him with 3B Brett Lawrie and a 3rd rounder to Blue Ridge for OF Matt Holliday, RP Joe Nathan and SS Javier Baez. After some seasoning in the minors that year, Blue Ridge brought him up in 2015 where he made 23 starts. Ventura went 8-10 with a 5.93 ERA. He struck out 116 batters in 136 2/3 innings.

The flame-throwing right-hander seemed to be in the Bombers' long-term plans although he didn't see too much action last season. In just 7 starts, Ventura went 4-1 with a 3.48 ERA, along with one relief appearance. He struck out 29 over 44 innings.

Ventura was killed a week before the protected deadline and still qualifies to pitch in 2017 DMBL, a unique circumstance that's occurred in the past (see Darryl Kile, et al). He coudl see time as free-agent fill-in but it's nothing like the situation in Poovey Farms where the late Jose Fernandez is expected to anchor the rotation.

Marte, 33, never donned a jersey for any DMBL team but had a Jesse Foppert-like legend of being drafted multiple times. Surprisingly, Marte was only drafted three times:

• 2005, Supplemental 11th round (26th round overall) by the Westwood Deductions (later the Brooklyn Bean Counters), three picks from the end of the 291-pick draft, between Frank Catalanatto (a former first round pick) and Miguel Cairo.
• 2006, 11th round, (145th overall) by the D.C. Bushslappers, taken between Dave Roberts and Kip Wells.
• 2009, Supplemental 5th round (252nd overall), by the Hoboken Cutters, between an ineligible Andruw Jones and Kosuke Fukudome

That's not even the most draft selections by a player named Marte -- that distinction belongs to Damaso, a lefty reliever selected five different times between 2003 and 2011. Even Foppert's legendary status seems like a tall tale, having only been selected once, in the 1st round of 2003, though the numerous times his name was called out later that draft obviously didn't count...