Today we lost a fantastic young pitcher in 22-year-old Nick Adenhart after he passed away from a car accident last night. It's hard to believe that the baseball community and the rest of the world that knew this young man has to say goodbye because over the past couple years we've seen flashes of greatness.
Nick Adenhart was (it feels so strange to say "was") a 4-star prospect in the Angels organization that made his big league debut last season. He was a hard throwing right hander that was drafted out of high school and was drafted in the 14th round a couple years back. The Angels took a gamble on him dishing out quite a bit of money after he had some minor injuries. He made his way up through the minors with nothing but tremendous upside. He was starting to live up to his potential as one of the game's great young pitchers despite some control issues.
In fact, last night Adenhart had a rather stellar performance for the Angels pitching six scoreless innings with five strikeouts. It seemed that Adenhart finally found his spot on a shaky rotation; a rotation that seemed to be more stable with him. Being just 22, it's obvious to see why all of the scouts, coaches and fans loved him.
However, his death was very preventable. A minivan going about 80 mph decided to run a red light as Adenhart's car, which was carrying 4 people, collided with it. 3 people, including Adenhart, died as the final passenger is in intensive care at a nearby hospital. If that wasn't bad enough, the driver of the minivan tried to flee the scene but was caught by officials. The man was charged with felony hit and run charges, but that hardly seems to be enough.
I can't help but hope that this man goes to prison for a long time, if not, the rest of his life. So many questions appear to arise on what was going through this man's head. Why was he going through the red light? Why was he going 80 mph!? It is completely pointless. There is no excuse for putting safety at risk to get to a location a bit earlier. This is the perfect reason why. 22 is just too young.
We lost one of our young rising stars today. So please do what you can to remember this great man, whether it be holding a moment of silence or just saying a simple prayer. You will be missed Nick Adenhart; may you rest in peace.
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