The Washington Nationals are not very happy with one of their top prospects named Esmailyn “Smiley” Gonzalez who they signed when he was just 16 years old they thought. he camed from the Dominican Republic and he he wound up leading the rookie-level Gulf Coast League with a .343 batting average in 2008 and was honored as the league’s MVP.
Major League Baseball has been do some investigating and they have found out he is not Esmailyn "Smiley" Gonazlez in fact he is older and his real name is Carlos David Alvarez Lugo. The Nationals gave him over a 1 million dollar signing bonus based on who they thought he was. Now Washington is still looking at their options and what would be in their best interests.
Now this has been a growing problem in recent years as players want to come to Major League Baseball and many times it is very hard to prove who they actually are. Yes, maybe the Washington Nationals did get duped, but the bottom line is they got a very good player and he still plays for them. I think they just want some of the signing bonus back. I am sure there is plenty of other Latin American players playing right now that could have done the same thing you just do not know anymore.
