Tigers minor league catcher Chace Numata died days after being injured in a skateboarding accident in Pennsylvania. He was 27.
Numata’s family and the team announced the death on Monday.
Numata, who was playing for Double-A Erie, was found unresponsive Friday morning by police in the northwestern Pennsylvania city.
GoErie.com reported that police found Numata on the ground, bleeding from the head.
The circumstances around Numata’s death suggest he was riding his skateboard home around 2 a.m. Saturday, police told the Detroit Free Press. The surveillance video showed the skateboard suddenly stop as if it hit something and Numata fell forward and landed headfirst on the ground.
“Chace was beloved by many from our Major League club through all levels of our player development system,” the Tigers said in a statement Monday. “He had an engaging personality that quickly established him as a leader on and off the field, and his presence will be forever remembered in our organization and beyond.”
Numata, a Pearl City, Hawaii, native, was in his first season in the Detroit organization. He batted a combined .244 with four home runs and 28 RBIs with Erie and Triple-A Toledo. He was a vibrant part of the Erie clubhouse. Numata began his pro career in 2010 when he was selected in to the 14th round by the Phillies. He also played in the Yankees’ organization in 2018, reaching as high as Double-A Trenton.
“He’s a giver,” Erie outfielder Cam Gibson, who was roommates with Numata, told the Detroit Free Press. “He’ll never ask for anything, but he’ll give. Even the small stuff. Me and him will go to Taco Bell at midnight and he forces himself in to pay for it. It’s little stuff like that.”
Gibson went on to describe Numata as someone who was always dancing, joking and having fun.
“He has more heart and more soul than anybody in this entire organization,” Gibson said.
With AP