RedsXtra: Cincinnati Reds teammates remember Jairo Capellán 1 year after fatal car crash

Bobby Nightengale | Cincinnati Enquirer

Raúl Hernandez doesn’t remember anything from the worst day of his life. His family had to tell him the tragic details after he woke up in the hospital with brain trauma and little motor function on the left side of his body.

Jairo Capellán, Emilio Garcia and Hernandez were in a car headed for their hometown, Santo Domingo, after participating in the Cincinnati Reds’ instructional league all week in the Dominican Republic. They all played together for the Reds’ Dominican Summer League team in 2018, the lowest level in the minor leagues. It was supposed to be about a 40-minute drive.

On the highway, their car suffered a blown tire. They veered off the road and struck a tree. Capellán died at 19 years old on Nov. 3, 2018. Hernandez and Garcia were immediately hospitalized and later transferred to a hospital in Miami.

“All the information I have from it is what my mom and teammates have said,” Hernandez said through a translator. “I know it was a regular weekend, going home on a Saturday and supposed to come back the next day. I was going home to visit the family, but I don’t remember that day. It’s completely blank.”

Garcia knew Capellán for a couple of years before they both signed with the Reds. They trained together as teenagers and introduced each other to their families.

Four days after the tragic car accident, a Reds trainer showed Garcia a picture of his newborn son, Emil. Garcia missed his son’s birth because he underwent surgeries in Miami for burns on his arms and shoulder, and he fractured an ankle.

“The sadness and the depression were stronger than the joy I felt because of the immense pain coming out of surgery and the loss of a close friend,” Garcia said through a translator. “At the moment, I was more overcome with sadness even though I was happy my son was born.”

After the accident, one of the key resources for Garcia and Hernandez was the Baseball Assistance Team (B.A.T.), which is sponsored by MLB. It’s a group designed to provide confidential assistance to baseball members in need.

One of B.A.T.’s coordinators, Eddy Tapia, was in the Dominican Republic on the day of the car accident and drove past the scene of the crash, though he didn’t realize it had anything to do with baseball players until later in the day.

“I was actually leaving the capital for two or three days away, just vacation days I had taken,” Tapia said. “We were taking a ride on the highway to get out of the capital and there was awful traffic. By the time we got to see what was causing it to our left-hand side of the highway, we could see a car completely detached, gone off the road completely.

“I don’t know how to even describe it. It was smashed to pieces against a cement partition or something like that. You could see people starting to come together around it.”

The Reds’ staff in the Dominican Republic reached out to B.A.T.’s consultant Dr. Genoveva Javier through a WhatsApp message to see if she could put them in touch with a nearby doctor or an air ambulance.

Once Tapia became involved, he was in daily contact with each of the families. B.A.T. assisted with the funeral expenses for Capellán while assisting with the medical and living expenses for Hernandez and Garcia.

Tapia coordinated with the families as the two players recovered. Hernandez’s mother stayed at a Ronald McDonald House near the Miami hospital and Tapia covered the logistics for families that had never been in the U.S., didn’t really know how to get around town and didn’t speak English.

When B.A.T. did a fundraising tour during spring training and stopped by the Reds’ complex, Tapia visited with the medical staff that he talked to after the tragedy and he had a chance to meet Garcia, who continued part of his rehab in Arizona.

“(Garcia) showed me the scars on his arm and his shoulder, just the burns and how they had been recovering,” Tapia said. “He showed me some photos. I was amazed. Remembering things and the wreck, seeing him standing in front of me with a smile on his face and very positive was shocking for a lack of a better term. What you had heard over the phone about the injuries and then seeing the guy in front of you still positive was shocking.”

Before a Reds game on April 9, the club remembered Capellán with a pre-game ceremony and a moment of silence. They honored Garcia and Hernandez on the field, along with members of the medical staff and baseball operations department who were involved in the rehab process for them.

Garcia, Hernandez and Capellán’s father, David, threw out the ceremonial first pitches. Hernandez walked with a cane but said it was a dream to be on a big-league field.

“That day was an emotional one where a lot of tears were shed,” Garcia said, “but mostly remembering all the positives about Jairo.”

One year following Capellán’s death, his former teammates promise to make sure his memory lives on. Garcia, a 20-year-old outfielder, is rehabbing in the Dominican Republic, but expects to be ready to play by January.

Garcia requested Capellán’s number, No. 37, and he always writes the initials “J.C.” in the dirt before he hits in batting practice or live batting practice sessions.

“I’d like people to recognize the charisma, the passion and the effort that Jairo put in not only for his play, but the closeness and the passion he had for his family,” Garcia said. “He was always very humble, very respectful, hardworking and dedicated to providing a better livelihood for his family. That was his primary goal.”

Hernandez, a 20-year-old pitcher, wants to continue playing baseball, but he continues to suffer from knee pain and he recognizes the left side of his body isn’t 100%. He has improved enough to walk without a cane.

One thing that’s important to him is that people continue to remember Capellán, who was a 6-foot-8, 190-pound right-handed pitcher.

“I’d like for people to remember Jairo as someone who was always happy,” Hernandez said. “He was never sad or down on himself. Always positive. He held his high, even in trying times. Just a genuinely happy individual, who was very close to his teammates and had a very positive energy to be around.”