Baseball in the United States: He pretends he is 14 when he is 19, to sign a three million contract

Cesar Altagracia, as far as his real identity is concerned, was caught in the act of being distantly related to Pinocchio. Rather skilled in baseball and eager to make a career in the very competitive North American professional league (MLB for Major League Baseball) where annual salaries of several million dollars are customary, this Dominican had found a trick to seduce recruiters: he had provided documents proving that he was 14 years old. The problem: these documents were fake, the player is actually 19 years old.

By lying about his age, by playing against and with players much younger than him, Altagracia had created an advantage. He was even considered one of the Dominican Republic‘s best prospects. He had also represented his country in international competitions at the U12 level in 2022 and at the U15 level during the summer of 2024, competitions in which he was always dominant. And for good reason…

According to information obtained by the television channel ESPNan MLB franchise (the San Diego Padres) had even recently offered a lucrative contract to Cesar Altagracia, just to secure the services of the prodigy in a few years. A pact worth $3 million.

But, before going through the signature process, the Californian team carried out checks and discovered the reality. According to media reports, it could even be that Altagracia is not called Altagracia…