MLB is reportedly determining that the Dominican prospect on a $4 million deal with the Padres is 19, not 14

A prospect lined up for a huge deal with the San Diego Padres is reportedly not who he says he is.

According to ESPN, an MLB investigation has revealed that top Dominican teenager Cesar Altagracia forged his papers and is actually 19 years old, not 14 as he previously claimed.

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 to play in January 2027, when he reportedly would have been 16 years old.

This number shows that he was considered one of the top prospects in his class. Only three players in this year's cycle signed for more than $4 million. The man also performed well as a member of the Dominican Republic team at the 2022 U-12 Baseball World Cup and the U-15 Pan American Championships, according to Baseball America's Ben Badler, who posted videos of him making hard contact in June has.

Cases like this are not unprecedented in the Dominican Republic, where children are often picked up by teams long before their supposed free agency and placed in academies while they wait for promised deals that may or may not materialize. It is a system in which corruption and deception are commonplace, usually at the expense of the players.

There was a similar incident in 2009 when a supposed 19-year-old Washington Nationals prospect named Esmailyn “Smiley” Gonzalez was revealed to be 23-year-old Carlos Alvarez Daniel Lugo. Unfortunately for the Nationals, this came after he received his $1.4 million bonus. The revelation led to the downfall of Nationals manager Jim Bowden, who was also under investigation for siphoning money from international signees.

There was also Danny Almonte, a Dominican Republic-born Little League World Series star who turned out to be two years older than his parents claimed.

In Altagracia's case, ESPN notes that MLB often suspends players found to have falsified their age for a year before allowing them to apply for reinstatement.