MLB Suspends Prospect After Elaborate Age-Fraud Plot Involving a Fake Tombstone
Major League Baseball has suspended Dominican prospect David Severino after an investigation uncovered a scheme to make him nearly two years younger than his actual age, ESPN reported on August 28.
The plot was not a simple paperwork fix. According to ESPN, the scheme involved falsified school and medical records, a fake birth certificate, a fabricated death certificate, and a tombstone planted at a gravesite in La Romana, a municipality about 75 miles from Santo Domingo in the southeastern Dominican Republic.
Severino's real name is Daury David Severino Damaso, born April 2, 2010, per ESPN's sources. That makes him 16 years old. But the identity he had been playing under listed a birthdate of December 20, 2011, making him appear to be 14 — a difference of nearly two years that matters enormously in a system where younger players command more money and attention from MLB clubs.
The switch-hitting infielder agreed in December to a $2.8 million pre-deal with the Cleveland Guardians, who believed he was 13 or 14 at the time. The deal was structured to be finalized in 2029, when Severino would theoretically turn 17 and become eligible to officially sign under MLB's international amateur signing rules. That agreement was canceled in May when MLB's investigation came to light.
The alleged architect of the scheme was Francisco Nieves, Severino's trainer at the time. ESPN reported that in 2023, Nieves created the false identity of "David Severino Damaso" — presented as Daury's younger brother — with the approval of the player's parents. To make the younger-brother story hold up, Nieves allegedly filed a fraudulent death certificate stating that Daury died of a respiratory illness on May 5, 2012, and built a fake tombstone at a gravesite in La Romana.
John Pereyra, a trainer who runs the Futuro Big Leaguers academy in Santiago, told ESPN he first saw Severino work out when he was told the boy was 11 years old. Pereyra agreed to pay Nieves $20,000 for Severino's rights and trained the player for two years leading up to the Guardians agreement. He said he knew nothing about the age fraud and only learned of the problem when Nieves messaged him in May that MLB was investigating.
What makes this case unusual even for the Dominican Republic, where ESPN reports that age and identity fraud run rampant on the international baseball scene, is the sheer audacity of the staging. Pereyra said in Spanish that he had heard of false birth documents before but the fabricated gravesite was "movie stuff" — the first such case he had seen in his life.
On the field, the younger false age gave Severino an edge. He impressed evaluators while competing against 12- and 13-year-olds, but at his true age he should have been facing 16- and 17-year-olds in the Dominican Summer League, MLB's entry-level circuit for international prospects. A scout told ESPN that at that level, "He's barely hanging on."
Severino's real age would have made him eligible for the 2027 international signing class. His suspension pushes that back an additional year. MLB, the Guardians, and Nieves have not commented on the matter. It remains unclear what first prompted the league to investigate.
