Oscar Taveras
Dominican–Canadian baseball player (1992–2014)
Oscar Francisco Taveras (June 19, 1992 – October 26, 2014) was a Dominican professional baseball outfielder who played one season for the St. Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball (MLB). Known as "El Fenómeno" (Spanish for "The Phenomenon") in the Dominican Republic, the Cardinals signed him at age 16 in 2008 as an international amateur free agent and he made his MLB debut in 2014. Over six minor league seasons, he batted .321 with a .519 slugging percentage. He played all three outfield positions while spending most of the time in center field.
As a batter, Taveras was a consensus top-five minor league prospect in 2013 and 2014. He elicited comparisons to former MLB outfielder and fellow Dominican Vladimir Guerrero—with a powerful, balanced stroke, Taveras successfully hit pitches well outside of the strike zone. Also similar to Guerrero, he possessed a strong and accurate throwing arm. The outfielder was the recipient of a litany of awards and won batting titles in two minor leagues, including hitting .386 for the Midwest League title in 2011. The next year, he won the Texas League batting title and was the Texas League Player of the Year and Cardinals organization Player of the Year.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Oscar Taveras” is dominican–Canadian baseball player (1992–2014). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Oscar, Taveras and Dominican, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “dominican–Canadian baseball player (1992–2014)” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q8078870. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1992, 2014, 2008 and 2013.
Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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Three-step research path
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This entry incorporates text from “Oscar Taveras” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.