A prospect who had a massive deal with the San Diego Padres wouldn’t be who he says he is.
An MLB investigation revealed that top Dominican prospect Cesar Altagracia falsified his documents and was actually 19 years old, not 14 as he previously claimed, according to ESPN.
The teenager reportedly had a verbal agreement to sign with the Padres as an international free agent for around $4 million once he became eligible in January 2027, when he would have reportedly turned 16.
This number indicates that he was considered one of the top prospects in his class. Only three players in this year’s cycle signed for over $4 million. The man also performed well as a member of the Dominican Republic team in the 2022 U-12 Baseball World Cup and the U-15 Pan American Championships, according to Baseball America’s Ben Badler, who posted reports videos of him making hard contact in June.
Cases like this are not unprecedented in the Dominican Republic, where children are often picked up by teams well before their supposed freedom of action and placed in academies to await promised deals that may or may not be reached. It is a system where corruption and subterfuge are commonplace, mainly to the detriment of the actors.
There was a similar incident in 2009, when a 19-year-old Washington Nationals prospect named Esmailyn “Smiley” Gonzalez turned out to be 23-year-old Carlos Alvarez Daniel Lugo. Unfortunately for the Nationals, that was after he got his $1.4 million bonus. The revelation precipitated the downfall of Nationals manager Jim Bowden, who was also investigated for embezzling money from international signees.
There was also Danny Almonte, a Little League World Series star born in the Dominican Republic who turned out to be two years older than his parents claimed.
In Altagracia’s case, ESPN notes that MLB often suspends players who falsify their age for a year before being allowed to seek reinstatement.
