Incredibly scary situation developing with emerging Angels prospect

Rio Foster had just won High-A Minor League Player of the Month for the Northwest League, showcasing his elite athleticism and in-game power to earn the award. Foster is a player the Angels took a flier on late in the 2023 MLB Draft (16th round) out of Florence-Darlington Technical College located in South Carolina. His emergence for the Tri-City Dust Devils was a nice story for the Angels' player development, but a tragic occurrence took place concerning Foster.

Incredibly scary situation developing with emerging Angels prospect

The Angels released a statement that Foster was the passenger in a car crash, which took place around 2 AM Pacific Time in Richland, Washington (close to Pascoe, the hometown of Tri-City). Foster is reportedly in critical condition at a local hospital. Foster was one of four passengers in the car, with two being ejected from the car and two suffering critical injuries. The car was driven into a power pole and fence (reporting on this done by Sam Blum of The Athletic).

The Dust Devils were supposed to play on Friday September 5th, but the game was canceled.

Per Sam Blum of The Athletic, the driver of the car was a 23-year-old man named Ashante Sanders-Jackson. They found that Sanders-Jackson was under the influence of alcohol when he failed to navigate a roundabout. He was released from the hospital, but was booked into a local jail on three counts of Vehicular Assault.

“Unfortunately, I’m working on limited [information], but what I do know is, obviously it's way more important than anything we're doing here today,” Angels interim manager Montgomery said to Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com. “Just thinking about him and his family...I mean, his career was obviously in a good spot, but that's all on hold. Praying for the best is all we can do.”

Foster was added to the Angels' big league spring training roster, a massive accomplishment for a late-round pick. When he was selected in the draft, the tools were all there but he was as raw a product as there was. Foster and the organization were succeeding mightily in turning him from a project to a bona fide prospect.

At this point, all fans can do is pray that he can walk out of the hospital and soon begin the long-road to recovery. Foster was emerging as a young star, and this news was horrible to hear.

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