18-year old Yewri Guillen, who played and lived at the Nationals baseball academy in the Dominican Republic, died Friday morning of bacterial meningitis reports Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post.

“Definitely a big loss,” academy administrator Fausto Severino said. “We’re all shocked.”

The team is still investigating the circumstances surrounding Guillen’s death. They have been in touch with other players who live and play at the complex and no one else has reported any health issues.

“All those steps were taken care of and really there’s nothing else to do at this moment,” Nationals head team doctor Wiemi Douoguih said. “The medical staff down south, our trainers, our doctors jumped on it and have really exhausted every possible measure to make sure nothing spreads and that this doesn’t have any further implications.”

Guillen started to feel ill last week and was sent home at his request. Last weekend he was hospitalized and subsequently died Friday morning in the hospital.

“Obviously, a terrible tragedy but I’d like to really applaud the efforts of our medical training staff down south, who identified it and got him treatment as soon as possible,” Douoguih said. “Unfortunately, even with the best treatment the mortality rate is about 20- to 30-percent so it’s really a very virulent and very terrible thing. And very unfortunate but fortunately, going forward, it is a very rare thing. And as unfortunate as it is, I think everything was done, I know everything was done to the letter by our medical and training staff to prevent any further catastrophe.”

Guillen, who was signed in February, was scheduled to play for one of the Nationals minor league affiliates in the United States this summer depending on how he performed at the academy.