'Fake Player' Nearly Made it to the Majors... Name, Age, and Academic Records All Falsified

MLB Office Imposes Suspension

Cleveland Guardians Terminate Contract

Club Faced Similar Incident in 2012

In an attempt to advance to Major League Baseball (MLB) as a promising player, a case has been uncovered where documents were forged using a fake name and age, and even a false death certificate and gravestone were fabricated.

According to online reports from U.S. sports channel ESPN and other foreign media outlets such as The Athletic on the 29th (Korea Standard Time), the MLB office has secured evidence that a Cleveland Guardians prospect falsified his age and identity, and has imposed a suspension. The player penalized is David Severino Damaso, a prospect from the Dominican Republic.

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The Cleveland club signed a prospect contract with David last December for $2.8 million. However, when it was confirmed that his actual age was two years older than stated in the documents, the club terminated the contract in May of this year. It was revealed that David's real name is Dawri Severino Damaso.

ESPN reported that the group who falsified Dawri's identity meticulously manipulated his birth certificate, medical records, and school enrollment records, wrote a fake death certificate, and even created a false grave.

According to the MLB office's investigation, Dawri's parents and his then-trainer Francisco Nieves conspired in 2023 to lower his age. First, they forged a birth certificate to create a younger brother named David, and even produced a fake death certificate for Dawri so that Dawri could live as David. They falsely claimed that Dawri had died of a respiratory illness in May 2012, just two years after his birth. In addition to creating a fraudulent death certificate for Dawri, they erected a fake gravestone on the outskirts of Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic. Furthermore, they manipulated medical and school enrollment records to fully transform Dawri into 'David.' ESPN reported that, with the consent of the player’s parents, former trainer Nieves is suspected of having orchestrated the scam.

It is not uncommon for aspiring baseball players from Central and South American countries to falsify their age or identity in order to enter MLB. The Cleveland club has faced trouble with player identity fraud before. In 2012, then-Cleveland pitcher Fausto Carmona was caught by police in the Dominican Republic when renewing his visa, having used a fake name and age. His real name was Roberto Hernandez, and he was actually three years older than previously known.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.