Gustavo Cabrera, a promising prospect player for the San Francisco Giants, has died due to COVID-19 complications, as reported by Dominican broadcaster Diego Guzmán and later confirmed by The Athletic reporter Andrew Baggarly.
Cabrera was only 25.
Cabrera was a highly-praised prospect when his career took a turn because of an accident that nearly severed his right hand.
He was 16 years old when he was drafted by the Giants in 2012. He was a top international prospect with a signing bonus of $1.3 million. According to Golden Gate Sports, he stayed in the minor leagues for a year before performing a solid run that would have gotten him a head start in the big leagues.
Cabrera was applauded for his agility and build, assets that would have given him a solid career.
However, in 2014 in his home, he slipped and suffered an unfortunate hand injury. He fell through a glass-top table, suffering multiple cuts to the wrist. Some of these cut through the tendons in his arms.
At the time, then-assistant GM Bobby Evans said the cuts “pretty near severed almost everything you can sever in your arm.” He also said the injury wouldn’t be “career-threatening.”
From 2015 to 2017, Cabrera attempted to come back from his injury and played for multiple Giants Single-A affiliates. He retired in 2018, at the age of 22. He played fewer than 200 games in his career.
His death was confirmed to The Athletic by Kyle Haines, the Giants’ farm director.
