MLB investigation discovers prospect linked to Padres falsified age

Major League Baseball recently conducted an investigation that found a top prospect in the Dominican Republic falsified his paperwork and is five years older than previously believed, according to a report from Jorge Castillo and Alden Gonzalez of ESPN, who note that the Dominican Baseball Federation is also investigating the situation.

The prospect, who was playing under the name Cesar Altagracia, is currently 19 years old despite documents claiming him to be just 14. Castillo and Gonzalez note that Altagracia has represented the Dominican Republic at international youth tournaments he qualified for based on his falsified age but was too old to participate in, including the 2022 U-12 Baseball World Cup (when Altagracia would have been 16 or 17 years old) and the U-15 Pan American Championship this past summer.

Per Castillo and Gonzalez, Altagracia had a verbal agreement with the Padres to sign for around $4M during the international signing period that’s set to begin in 2027, when Altagracia’s documents would have claimed him to be 16 years old. 

Verbal agreements of this sort made years in advance are par for the course when it comes to international amateurs in the years since the 2012 collective bargaining agreement between MLB and the MLBPA imposed a spending cap on the international market. That has led to these verbal agreements being made when prospects are as young as 12 or 13 years old, even though they may not sign until they turn 16.

Those verbal agreements don’t always come to pass, however. Altagracia certainly won’t, as Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports that his offer from San Diego has been revoked and that he will be suspended for his offense. 

Castillo and Gonzalez add that it’s typical for a prospect who falsified his age to be suspended for one year before he can reapply, meaning Altagracia could once again be available to clubs ahead of his age-20 season next winter. 

Since Altagracia wasn’t scheduled to officially sign until January 2027, the revoked agreement will have no impact on the Padres’ financial flexibility when striking deals with international amateurs this winter.

Cases of falsified age or other improper conduct by a prospect are far from the only reason a verbal agreement can be reneged upon. As noted by Castillo and Gonzalez, it’s “not uncommon” for teams to pull out of deals just weeks before the pen was set to be put to paper in cases where the player did not develop as expected, or there was turnover in the club’s front office between the verbal agreement being made and signing day that led to a change in philosophy. 

Castillo and Gonzalez’s report goes on to suggest that Altagracia isn’t alone in his situation, as there has been an “uptick” in high-profile prospects falsifying their age, leading to their agreements with clubs being revoked.

Concerns surrounding corruption in the international amateurs' arena were a point of discussion during the league’s push to implement an international amateur draft similar to the one MLB has in place for prospects in the U.S. and Canada during the last round of CBA negotiations between the league and players’ union. 

The league attached its proposal for an international draft to eliminate the qualifying offer and continued negotiating even after a new CBA was put into place, but those negotiations fell apart in July 2022. 

Since then, the current system of international amateurs has remained in place, as has the QO. It’s possible that both issues could come up again in the next round of CBA talks, which figure to begin at some point before the current CBA expires on Dec. 1, 2026.