The Fausto Carmona story has come as a huge shock to Indians fans around the country. Since breaking in with the club as a reliever in 2006, fans have known the pitcher with the 4.59 career ERA as Fausto Carmona, but his real name is Roberto Heredia Hernandez. What’s the motivation behind him hiding his real name and age from Major League Baseball? The answer is simple: money. MLB clubs pay huge signing bonuses to Dominican players as young as 15 years old. As the story goes, once a Dominican player reaches the age of 18, his value drops considerably. So, many players are compelled to forge their identities to receive the higher bonuses.

Shortly after 2001, the United States tightened its border security restrictions and that put more pressure on the government to ensure the accuracy of foreign visas. It was at that point that MLB discovered that it had almost 500 players with “questionable” paperwork. MLB launched investigations into many of those cases and continues to work with foreign agencies to ensure the integrity of documentation from countries like the Dominical Republic. These days, the signing process for a foreign player is very lengthy and meticulous, but obviously some players may slip through the cracks. Now, MLB fingerprints youngsters in Latin America as early as 15 years old so they can keep better track of the kids as they progress.

Fausto’s situation is very similar to former Marlins relief pitcher Leo Nunez whose real name is Juan Carlos Oviedo. He was busted in the Dominican Republic in September of 2011 for identity fraud and has yet to return to the United States. It’s troubling that a 20-25 year old player in the United States is considered somewhat “ancient” in the Dominican Republic. We have seen, regardless of their identity fraud incidents, that many of these men are exceptional baseball players and are often fairly close to their real ages. Still, it’s a tough morality play: lie to MLB and get to play baseball; perhaps take care of a family back in the Dominican Republic, or tell the truth and be locked away forever.

We’ll be watching this one closely. I hope that it encourages some kind of reform to the way that business is done between MLB and the Dominican, but that’s just wishful thinking from a man who still believes in the purity of the game.