The DR was NOT good about birth certificates and such. The Nats had a hitter a couple of years ago who was found to be 23 instead of 19 or some such. He was signed in 05 or 06, though.
Teams have gotten much better. It's not perfect, but most of the top guys are well verified. Too much egg on the face to spend 3 million on a 19 year old instead of a 16 year old. The Nats are the last team I can think of to go through that, and they got suckered (or were complicit and corrupt, depending on what you believe).
Nobody else believed he was that age or worth what they paid for him. We have some of the best, longest-term scouting in the region who have contacts everywhere to help them sniff out that sort of thing. We do more in Venezuela now, but Engle in particular has been around the DR for a couple of decades.
The Nats were just getting into it as they'd shunned the international guys for a while, IIRC, and they believed a guy who was a friend of Bowden's.
I'm not that concerned about it. LeBron didn't look 18 either. Some guys just get a man's body at a boy's age. Engle's been doing this FOREVER and hasn't been snookered like that yet.
I don't think this is the first time. I'd be more concerned with his handlers pumping him full of steroids so he could make all that cash than with his age not being legit.
For the time being, I choose to believe the kid is just what he says he is, and what the scouts say he is.
It's the Christmas spirit, I think. ;)
And in the spirit of getting a great prospect instead of a guy with age descrepancies, this was A-Rod at 17:
http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/multimedia/photo_gallery/0902/mlb.alex.rodrig...
He doesn't look 17 either.
~G
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