WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A minor league pitcher who once played for the Palm Beach Cardinals was killed in a New Year's Eve motorcycle crash in his native Venezuela.
Derian Gonzalez, who had been with the St. Louis Cardinals organization since 2012, died Thursday while traveling on a highway that links the western states of Zulia and Merida, Spanish-language media recently reported. He was 25 years old.
The Palm Beach Cardinals offered their "deepest sympathies" to his friends and family in a message posted Monday on Twitter.
We are saddened to hear about the passing of former Palm Beach Cardinals pitcher Derian Gonzalez.
— Palm Beach Cardinals (@GoPBCardinals) January 4, 2021
We send our deepest sympathies to his family & friends.
He was 25-years-old. pic.twitter.com/4PFezDfSO9
Gonzalez spent the 2016 and 2017 seasons with the single-A Palm Beach Cardinals. He later played for the triple-A Memphis Redbirds.
The former Cardinals prospect missed the 2019 season with an injury and became a free agent in November.
Gonzalez, who was playing for the Lara Cardinals of the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League at the time of his death, finished his minor league career with a 3.51 ERA, 361 strikeouts and 155 walks through 366 2/3 innings.