Carvajal Passes

Former pitcher Marcos Carvajal died on Tuesday. He died due to a drug shortage:

Alejandro Castillejo, president of the state’s baseball association, told The Associated Press on Saturday that Carvajal checked himself into a hospital in December suffering from a respiratory illness. He said the former pitcher’s family had to scramble to find antibiotics that have all but disappeared from the shelves of Venezuela.

Eventually the drugs were sent from abroad and Carvajal returned to the home he shared with his siblings and grandparents. But his boss said he grew alarmed when Carvajal didn’t return to work as expected after the Christmas holiday.

“We were calling him but he wouldn’t tell us what was happening,” Castillejo said. “We assume he was depressed by the situation, his illness and especially the high cost of the medicine.”

Carvajal was rushed to the hospital Monday suffering from a relapse and died a day later, Castillejo said. He was 34.

My thoughts go out to his family and friends.

Carvajal pitched very briefly in the majors, accumulating just 57 innings, all in relief. He actually pitched well at Coors Field, but poorly on the road. In his career in the minors, he could never get his walk rate under control, which likely kept him from spending more time in the majors.

from baseballmusings.com http://ift.tt/2DHYDmi