Cesar Altagracia had a verbal agreement to sign with the San Diego Padres for roughly $4 million, but MLB discovered that the Dominican Republic prospect who said he was 14 years old was actually 19.
One of the top teenage prospects out of the Dominican Republic will not be signing with the San Diego Padres after all,
MLB recently completed an investigation into Cesar Altagarcia, uncovering that he had falsified his paperwork and lied about his age. Teams were led to believe that Altagarcia was 14 years old, but he is actually 19. Altagarcia had a verbal agreement to join the Padres, who were going to give him a signing bonus of roughly $4 million. He was unable to put pen to paper until he became officially eligible in January 2027, though, when he would presumably be 16 years old.
Instead, the Padres have withdrawn their offer from Altagarcia, per ESPN. Altagarcia may not be able to find another landing spot in the immediate future, either, since players who lie about their age are typically suspended and not allowed reapply for a full year. This is a big, big deal. As Jorge and Alden report, age fraud among international amateurs remains an issue. And this case is particularly egregious. A player who said he was 14 years old was actually 19.The 6-foot middle infielder played for the Dominican Republic at the U-12 Baseball World Cup in 2022, at which point he was actually 17 years old. He hit .455 with a 1.071 OPS in that tournament, racking up one home run, seven RBI, eight runs and 10 stolen bases across eight games of action.
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