Why? One doesn’t use a false identity for no reason. Probably got a record, or is wanted.
Maybe he’s a Manchurian Candidate-kinda player...sent from North Korea into the Caribbean...sneaking into the US to spy on major league baseball? Heck, he might even be from Turkmenistan.
Illegal alien working in America making millions of dollars?
It sounds like he has been playing his whole career under the false identity.
Perhaps he faked being 17 to keep playing in the teenage Dominican leagues, so he would be scouted.
And as he had amazing maturity, power, and control for a 17 year old he got the scouting attention he wanted.
Oops, I forgot. The Indians traded them both last year for another south-of-the-border headcase, Ubaldo Jimenez. Never mind.
No. He did it to lower his age. Prospects and players are evaluated on age. The club charts players and how they are supposed to move through the system. A 22 year old in rookie ball is viewed much differently than a 19 year old in rookie ball.
So his rookie year was 2006, when he was supposedly 22, but was actually 25. He went 1-10, but he was thought to have really good stuff, so the Indians kept working with him and brought him back for the next year. They did that because they thought he was 22. If a pitcher is 25 and goes 1-10, he gets sent down, or, more likely, released.