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The Dominican Republic has a bit of an age issue, as per an MLB insider. There's a rampant age fraud scandal going on right now, that tons of Dominican Republic players have lied about their age at some point. The details are still coming out, but it's huge.
MLB reporter Bob Nightengale recently shed some light on the situation, saying that over 170 kids have lied about their age in some way. More than 50 international prospects had their contracts rejected because of it, and that includes 22 players with future deals.
MLB reporter sheds light on Dominican Republic age scandal
Based on the reports, the Dominican Republic age scandal has reached new heights. Nightengale said that one player lied for a handsome sum, while another suggested a tremendous age gap:
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"One player had a handshake agreement for $6 million. Another claimed he was 14 years old when he actually turned out to be 21.
"MLB investigators do not have an actual count but believe those numbers could be inflated, insisting the known cases of fraud have been flat over the years."
The reporter claimed that several of these recent cases involved young players and their trainers telling teams that they're young teenagers, only 13 or 14 years old.
They would then get deals that would be consummated when they were 16, but, obviously, they were older than that.
The report says that the Houston Astros and Boston Red Sox had five players who lied about how old they were. Nightengale continued:
"MLB opened an age and Identity Investigation Department more than 10 years ago, which uses an extensive process to verify age and ID trying to curb the corruption.
"It does not approve any first-year international contracts with a signing bonus above $20,000 in any country without an age and ID investigation. It reviews more than 1,000 cases per year."
An international draft could theoretically help alleviate this rampant illegal behavior, as there would be more eyes on everyone during the process to help determine the truth.
