Guardians Prospect Suspended by MLB After Faking His Own Death to Hide His Real Age

Major League Baseball has suspended a Dominican infielder once considered one of the sport's top international prospects, after an investigation found his trainer built a years-long fraud around a fake identity, a fake death certificate, and a planted tombstone.

The player was known to teams as David Severino, a switch-hitting infielder. His real name is Daury David Severino Damaso, according to ESPN's Alden Gonzalez, who first reported the details of the MLB investigation. He was born April 2, 2010, making him 16 years old. The false identity carried a birthdate of Dec. 20, 2011, shaving nearly two years off his real age.

The Cleveland Guardians agreed to a $2.8 million pre-deal with the player in December, believing he was 13 or 14. Under international signing rules, that deal wouldn't have become official until 2029. The Guardians terminated the agreement in May after learning he was actually two years older than represented, according to MLB insider Wilber Sánchez.

How the fraud was built

According to ESPN's sourcing, the scheme was orchestrated in 2023 by Francisco Nieves, the player's trainer at the time, with the approval of the player's parents. Nieves allegedly created a second identity, David Severino Damaso, presented as Daury's younger brother. A late-filed birth registration was submitted under that name, followed by falsified medical and school records.

Two years later, the con escalated. A fraudulent death certificate was filed for the real Daury, claiming he died of a respiratory illness on May 5, 2012, at age two. A fake tombstone was fabricated and planted at a gravesite in La Romana, a municipality roughly 75 miles from Santo Domingo, according to ESPN's reporting, which was echoed across CBS Sports, TSN, and BroBible.

MLB's investigation reconstructed the paper trail: fake birth certificate, falsified medical and school records, a fabricated death certificate, and a staged gravesite. This represented four separate fraudulent documents plus a physical prop, built over roughly two years.

Trainers and scouts were fooled

John Pereyra, a trainer at Futuro Big Leaguers in the Dominican Republic who later worked with the player, told ESPN in Spanish that he'd never seen anything like it in his career. "You have to have [guts] to do something like this," Pereyra said. "I've heard about false birth documents and stuff like that, but to put together what this guy did — that's movie stuff. That's the first time I've ever seen anything like that in the Dominican. In my life, I have never seen anything like that."

Pereyra purchased the player's rights from Nieves for $20,000 in 2023, believing him to be 11 years old. Pereyra told ESPN that when he later heard about a brother's death, he visited the gravesite himself and believed the story.

Not everyone was convinced early on. One international team executive told ESPN that a scout praised the player's ability, but the executive's own first impression in person was that the player couldn't possibly be the age listed. Another executive said the same about his face.

Consequences for the player

The suspension carries a real financial cost. Had his true birthdate been known from the start, the player would have been eligible to sign with the 2027 international amateur class. Instead, the suspension pushes his eligibility back a full year, to 2028.

One scout told ESPN that a payday once projected in six figures could now shrink to as little as $10,000, given that his on-field performance came against opponents two to three years younger.

Pereyra's academy, which purchased the player's rights based on the false age, could also face financial fallout from a deal built on fraudulent paperwork.

MLB declined to comment to ESPN. Guardians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti also declined comment. Nieves did not respond to multiple requests for comment, and neither did the player's father, according to ESPN's reporting.

Not the Guardians' first brush with this

This isn't the organization's first experience with age and identity fraud. In 2012, Cleveland pitcher Fausto Carmona, then an established big leaguer, was found by Dominican authorities to actually be Roberto Hernández, three years older than his official record showed. Hernández later returned to MLB with the Tampa Bay Rays and three other teams before leaving the league in 2016, according to BroBible's reporting.

Age and identity fraud has been a documented problem in Dominican amateur scouting for years, driven by the financial incentive for younger-appearing prospects to command bigger bonuses. This case stands out for the lengths organizers went to: an entire fabricated sibling identity, complete with a staged funeral record and a real tombstone in a real cemetery.

MLB has not disclosed the length of the suspension or whether Nieves or the player's parents face any further sanctions. No criminal charges have been reported by any outlet covering the story as of this writing.