NEW YORK -- Eighteen-year-old Yankees prospect Sandy Acevedo, signed as an international free agent from the Dominican Republic last year, died in a car accident on Saturday night, the team announced before Sunday's series finale against the Rays at Yankee Stadium.
The Yankees will hold a moment of silence for Acevedo before Sunday's game.
New York signed Acevedo, a third baseman/infielder from the Dominican capital of Santo Domingo, to a Minor League contract on July 6, 2015 -- Acevedo's 18th birthday.
In a 2015 Scout.com interview, Donny Rowland, the Yankees' director of international scouting, described how the Yankees discovered Acevedo while working out another player, pitcher Yoan Lopez, who ended up signing with the D-backs.
"Acevedo was one of the hitters that we brought in to face him, and he absolutely owned him in three out of four at-bats and crushed stuff," Rowland said in the interview. "That's where our staff became sold on this guy. 'We like the pitcher, but who is the hitter?'"