MLB Suspends Dominican Prospect After Age and Identity Fraud Finding

Major League Baseball has suspended Dominican prospect Daury David Severino Damaso after a league investigation found that he had been presented to clubs under a false identity and as nearly two years younger than his actual age. Reuters reported the suspension on Friday, citing an ESPN investigation into the case.

The switch-hitting infielder had been known in baseball circles as David Severino Damaso. According to the reporting, he reached a $2.8 million pre-agreement with the Cleveland Guardians in December, when the organization believed he was 13 or 14. The deal was intended to become official in 2029, when he was expected to be 17 and eligible to sign. Cleveland canceled the agreement in May after MLB began investigating.

ESPN reported that the player is actually 16 and named Daury David Severino Damaso. The outlet said his trainer at the time, Francisco Nieves, allegedly established the false identity in 2023 by presenting Daury as a younger brother named David. The reported scheme included falsified school and medical records as well as false birth and death certificates.

The most unusual element was an alleged effort to support a claim that Daury had died as a young child. ESPN reported that a false death certificate attributed his supposed death to a respiratory illness and that a tombstone was placed at a gravesite in the Dominican Republic. Trainer John Pereyra, who later worked with Severino, said he visited the supposed grave while checking the player's background and believed it supported the account he had been given.

Pereyra told ESPN that he paid Nieves $20,000 for the player's rights and trained Severino for two years before the Guardians agreement. He said he had not known about the alleged fraud and learned of a problem only when Nieves contacted him in May about MLB's investigation. The agreement with Cleveland unraveled soon afterward.

Reuters reported that it remains unclear what prompted MLB to examine the case. The league, the Guardians and Nieves had not commented on the matter at the time of the report. The suspension is confirmed, but the specific actions attributed to Nieves and the construction of the false identity remain allegations contained in ESPN's reporting.