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Former major leaguer Andy Marte killed in car accident at age 33

Former major leaguer Andy Marte has died at age 33 following a car crash in the Dominican Republic. (Getty Images)
Former major leaguer Andy Marte has died at age 33 following a car crash in the Dominican Republic. (Getty Images)

Former Atlanta Braves and Cleveland Indians infielder Andy Marte has died following a car crash in his native Dominican Republic. He was 33.

Marte’s representatives at J.M.G. Baseball confirmed his death on Twitter early Sunday morning.

Marte is one of two well known baseball players to die in car accidents this weekend in the Dominican Republic. Kansas City Royals ace Yordano Ventura, 25, was killed on Sunday morning.

After signing with the Braves as an international free agent in 2000, Marte quickly became a highly regarded prospect and a potential long term replacement for Chipper Jones in Atlanta. In 2005, Baseball America ranked him as the ninth-best prospect in baseball, ahead of other future superstars like Hanley Ramirez.

He debuted with the Braves later that season, appearing in 24 games before being traded to the Boston Red Sox for Edgar Renteria the following winter. Soon after, Marte was traded to Cleveland, where he would spend the next five seasons.

Marte would make a brief return to MLB in 2014, appearing in six games for the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Over 308 major league games, Marte hit .218/.276/.358 with 21 home runs and 99 RBIs. He’d spent the last two seasons playing in South Korea, where he enjoyed great success with the KT Wiz in the Korea Baseball Organization. There, he hit .312/.390/.547 with 42 home runs in 206 games.

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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!