In the world of international baseball scouting, where youth and potential are currency, a Dominican prospect and those around him constructed an elaborate false identity — complete with forged birth certificates, fabricated medical records, and even a fake death certificate and tombstone — to present a teenager as two years younger than he truly was. The Cleveland Guardians signed what they believed was a 13-year-old for $2.9 million, unaware that the boy on paper was a fiction built by a trainer and sanctioned by a family chasing a dream. Major League Baseball has since uncovered the scheme
MLB suspends Dominican prospect over elaborate fake identity and age fraud scheme
A fake tombstone was placed to keep the ruse going.
Mark
So the Guardians signed this kid thinking he was 13 or 14, but he was actually 15 or 16?
Mimi
That's the allegation. Two years older, which in youth baseball is a massive physical difference. He'd be playing against kids who were still in middle school.
Luke
But we should note—this is ESPN's reporting based on what MLB apparently found. We don't have MLB's official statement yet, and the Guardians aren't commenting. So the details of how the scheme worked are coming through one reporting channel.
Mark
Right, but the fake death certificate part—that's real?
Mimi
According to Gonzalez's reporting, yes. A fake death certificate from 2012, supposedly showing Daury died of respiratory illness. And a fake tombstone to go with it.
Luke
Which raises the question: who was checking these documents? How did a death certificate and tombstone fool anyone for years?
Mark
The trainer created the fake identity with the parents' approval, right?
Mimi
That's what's reported. The trainer, Francisco Nieves, created a false identity claiming it was the younger brother of the real Daury, with fake birth certificates and medical records.
Luke
So the parents were involved. That's a crucial detail that changes how we understand this—it's not just a trainer acting alone.
Mark
And now Damaso has to wait an extra year to sign?
Mimi
Yes. He's ineligible for a year as a result of the suspension. The $2.9 million deal is gone.
Luke
The question nobody's answered yet: how did MLB discover this? What triggered the investigation?
Il Polso
- A $2.9 million contract was built on a foundation of forged documents, a fabricated younger brother, and a fake death certificate designed to erase the real person from the record.
- By competing as a player two years younger than his true age, Damaso held a significant physical advantage over his peers, distorting every statistic and scout evaluation that followed.
- The deception escalated beyond falsified paperwork into the surreal — a tombstone was placed for a living person to ensure no one would ask where the real Daury had gone.
- MLB's vetting process eventually unraveled the scheme, resulting in a suspension that delays Damaso's eligibility by an additional year and leaves the Guardians' $2.9 million investment in legal and ethical limbo.
- The trainer who orchestrated the fraud, Francisco Nieves, acted with the parents' approval, raising difficult questions about who bears responsibility when an entire family consents to deceiving a major institution.
In the world of international baseball scouting, where youth and potential are currency, a Dominican prospect and those around him constructed an elaborate false identity — complete with forged birth certificates, fabricated medical records, and even a fake death certificate and tombstone — to present a teenager as two years younger than he truly was. The Cleveland Guardians signed what they believed was a 13-year-old for $2.9 million, unaware that the boy on paper was a fiction built by a trainer and sanctioned by a family chasing a dream. Major League Baseball has since uncovered the scheme and suspended the player, Daury David Severino Damaso, adding a year to his wait before he may legally sign as an international amateur. It is a story as old as ambition itself — the lengths people will travel when the stakes feel high enough to justify the lie.
In 2014, the Cleveland Guardians believed they were investing in the future when they agreed to a $2.9 million pre-contract with a Dominican switch-hitting infielder named David Severino Damaso, thought to be 13 or 14 years old. The deal would activate when he turned 17. Nearly everything about him, it turned out, was fabricated.
The player's real name is Daury David Severino Damaso, and he was approximately two years older than his documents claimed. His former trainer, Francisco Nieves, had engineered the deception with the blessing of Daury's parents — constructing a false identity for a fictitious younger brother, complete with forged birth certificates and fabricated medical records. For a time, the lie held.
Then the scheme grew stranger. A fraudulent death certificate was produced, claiming Daury had died of respiratory illness in 2012. A fake tombstone was placed to make the story concrete. The logic was cold and calculated: a dead boy raises no questions, and the younger identity on paper could keep competing without scrutiny.
The real-world consequence was that Damaso played against children two years his junior — an age gap that, in youth baseball, translates into outsized physical and developmental advantages. Every impressive statistic, every glowing scouting report, was shaped by that hidden edge.
Major League Baseball eventually uncovered the fraud and suspended Damaso, adding a full year to his wait before he can sign as an international amateur. The Guardians declined to comment in detail. What remains is a portrait of desperation meeting ambition — a family, a trainer, and a young man who built an elaborate fiction, including a tombstone for the living, in pursuit of a contract. The machinery of professional baseball caught up, and now Damaso waits, suspended between the identity he borrowed and the future he still hopes to claim.
The Cleveland Guardians thought they were signing a prospect on the cusp of adolescence. In 2014, the team agreed to a $2.9 million deal with a Dominican player they believed was 13 or 14 years old—a pre-contract that would activate once he turned 17. His name was David Severino Damaso, a switch-hitting infielder with potential. What the Guardians did not know was that nearly everything about him was false.
According to ESPN's reporting, the player's actual name is Daury David Severino Damaso, and he was roughly two years older than the documents claimed. The deception began with his former trainer, Francisco Nieves, who orchestrated an elaborate scheme with the player's parents' approval. Nieves created a false identity—a younger version of Daury—and supplied it with forged birth certificates and fabricated medical records. The fiction was that this "David Severino Damaso" was Daury's younger brother. For a time, the lie held.
But two years after the fake birth certificate entered circulation, the scheme escalated into something stranger still. A fraudulent death certificate was produced, claiming that Daury had died of respiratory illness in 2012. To cement the deception, a fake tombstone was placed. The goal was clear: if Daury was dead, no one would question why he was no longer playing. The false identity could continue undetected, and the younger version—the one on paper—could keep competing.
The practical effect was that Damaso played against children two years his junior. In youth baseball, that gap is enormous. A 15-year-old competing against 12- and 13-year-olds has a physical and developmental advantage that distorts every statistic, every scout's evaluation, every promise of future talent. He would stand out not because he was exceptional, but because he was older.
Major League Baseball eventually uncovered the scheme. The league suspended Damaso as a result. The consequence is significant: he must now wait an additional year before becoming eligible to sign with any team as an international amateur. The Guardians, when contacted, declined to comment beyond acknowledging the situation. MLB has not yet responded to requests for further detail.
What emerges from the facts is a portrait of desperation and ambition colliding with fraud. A trainer, a family, and a young player constructed an elaborate fiction—complete with death certificates and tombstones—to secure a $2.9 million contract. The scheme worked long enough to fool one of baseball's thirty teams. It failed only when the machinery of professional baseball's vetting process finally caught up. Now Damaso faces the consequences of competing under a false identity, suspended from the path he was promised, waiting for eligibility that will not come for another year.
Citazioni salienti
The player's real name is Daury David Severino Damaso, and his identity had been falsified by his former trainer.— ESPN's Alden Gonzalez reporting
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