GONE TOO SOON

Former New York Yankees Catcher Dies at 35

The Venezuelan athlete succumbed to his injuries after a traffic accident.

Jesús Montero, a former catcher for the New York Yankees and the Seattle Mariners, has died. The Yankees confirmed Sunday that Montero, who was signed to the team from 2006 until 2012, succumbed to his injuries after a traffic accident in Valencia, Venezuela. He was 35. The Seattle Times previously reported that Montero, who played his last MLB game in 2015, had been struck by a pickup truck while riding his motorcycle on October 4, and was hospitalized in critical condition. Born in Guacara, Venezuela, in 1989, Montero was first signed by the Yankees in 2006, at just 17 years old. At the time, he was considered the best power hitter in the free agent class. Montero spent the next five years playing for various Minor League teams before joining the Yankees’ official roster in 2011. He was traded to the Seattle Mariners the following year, and played two seasons with the team before getting a 50-game suspension for his part in the Biogenesis scandal. He returned to the Minor Leagues and was later briefly signed by both the Toronto Blue Jays and the Baltimore Orioles. After leaving the MLB in 2017, he spent one season with the Mexican League’s Sultanes de Monterrey and another with the Generales de Durango, before returning to his native Venezuela. Montero is survived by his daughter, Loren; son, Jesús; and their mother, Taneth Giménez. Giménez paid tribute to Montero on Instagram Sunday, sharing images of the athlete with their children and writing, “I’ll keep the good memories tattooed on my soul.”