Sources: MLB finds teen prospect falsified age
-
Jorge Castillo
Close
Jorge Castillo
ESPN Staff Writer
- ESPN baseball reporter. Covered the Washington Wizards from 2014 to 2016 and the Washington Nationals from 2016 to 2018 for The Washington Post before covering the Los Angeles Dodgers and MLB for the Los Angeles Times from 2018 to 2024.
-
Alden Gonzalez
Close
Alden Gonzalez
ESPN Staff Writer
- ESPN baseball reporter. Covered the L.A. Rams for ESPN from 2016 to 2018 and the L.A. Angels for MLB.com from 2012 to 2016.
A Major League Baseball investigation recently found a top teenage prospect in the Dominican Republic who had verbally agreed to sign with the San Diego Padres falsified his paperwork and is five years older than previously believed, resulting in the agreement being withdrawn, sources told ESPN.
The teenager, who assumed the name Cesar Altagracia, verbally agreed to sign with the Padres for about $4 million, a substantial bonus that signified he was considered one of the top international prospects in his class. The transaction would have become official in January 2027, once Altagracia became eligible to sign as a 16-year-old international free agent.
But MLB discovered he is 19 years old, not 14, as his documents stated. The teenager represented the Dominican Republic at the 2022 U-12 Baseball World Cup and at the U-15 Pan American Championships this summer under the false identity, sources said.
An MLB spokesman declined to comment. The Padres also declined to comment. The Dominican Baseball Federation is investigating the matter, as well, sources said.
Players who have been found to have falsified their ages are typically handed a one-year suspension before they are allowed to reapply.
The existence of a spending cap in the international market, implemented as part of the collective bargaining agreement beginning in 2012, and the race to identify the best talent in a baseball hotbed such as the Dominican Republic have prompted teams to regularly agree to deals with players years before they become eligible to sign at age 16. Deals are struck with players as young as 12 or 13 years old, at which point they train under a team’s supervision, out of sight from rival evaluators, until signing day.
It is not uncommon, however, for teams to pull prearranged deals weeks before players would sign them, either because a prospect did not develop as expected or because turnover in the team’s front office altered philosophies, sources said.
The signing of amateur players has fueled an entire economy rife with corruption. The past year has seen an uptick in high-profile players showcasing themselves with falsified birth certificates to present themselves as much as five years younger, sources said. Many of those players have had their bonuses pulled after investigations uncovered the information.
Knight’s Choice has won the 2024 Melbourne Cup, defeating Warp Speed and Okita Soushi in a thrilling finish at Flemington on Tuesday afternoon.
The massive outsider saluted for Irish-born jockey Robbie Dolan, who claimed victory in what was his first ever ride in the “race that stops a nation”.
In what was a gripping 164th staging of Australia’s most-watched thoroughbred race, Knight’s Choice proved too strong in a sprint to the finish, pulling over the top of Okita Soushi and holding off Warp Speed by the barest of margins.
Trained by John Symons and Sheila Laxon on the Sunshine Coast, Knight’s Choice was well down the betting across all markets. It was Laxon’s second Melbourne Cup triumph after she trained Ethereal to victory 23 years ago.
“This is the pinnacle of all pinnacles, this is the Melbourne Cup,” Symons said.
Zardozi rounded out the first four.
As the field approached the final few hundred metres it appeared as though Jamie Kah, aboard Okita Soushi, would become just the second woman to ride the winner in the Melbourne Cup. But Okita Soushi was swallowed up as the winning post neared, with Knight’s Choice beating Warp Speed to the line after a peach of a ride from Dolan.
“We’ll be singing tonight after a few beers,” Dolan, who was a contestant on the 2022 edition of “The Voice”, told Channel 9.
“It is amazing and a lot of people doubted this little horse. Doubt me now.”
Laxon was more than happy with the ride, with Dolan threading his way through the field from near last on the bend.
“He started the race, and he knew how to ride him. We didn’t give him instructions, he knew what to do,” she said.
“I love it being down for the Australians. The Australian horse has done it, and Robbie is Australian now as well, so I’m thrilled to win the Cup, and it is the people’s Cup, and that’s what it is all about.”
Knight’s Choice is just the sixth Australian-bred horse to win since 1993, and the first since Vow and Declare back in 2019.
The five-year-old gelding carried only 51kg to victory and was making its first start over the 3200m trip. It had most recently come off a fifth-placed finish in the Bendigo Cup, but had showed sparing little form this preparation otherwise.
“I watched every Melbourne Cup for the last 40 years. I thought my best chance was to get him to stay the trip and, hopefully, he can run home and do the quick sectionals he can on a good track and he proved everybody wrong,” Dolan said.
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports7 months agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Environment1 year agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Sports3 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business2 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway