2013 International signing period: Obispo Aybar ineligible until 2014

Baseball America is reporting that one of the most talented prospects available in the 2013 international free agent signing period has lied about his age. Obispo Aybar is a SS who had claimed to be only 16 years old. It turns out he is 19 and because of this, he’s no longer eligible to be signed until next year.

A player who had been presenting himself as 16-year-old Obispo Aybar, born Feb. 26, 1997, now says he is 19-year-old Cecilio Aybar, born Nov. 23, 1993. According to Aybar, he swapped identities with his younger brother.

Because Aybar had assumed the younger brother’s identity, someone then created fake identifying papers for the younger brother and had to eliminate any records of Cecilio Aybar. Sources alleged that a school administrator helped hide school documents, while hospital records were also concealed to try to render Cecilio Aybar nonexistent.

Kim Ng, who oversees the league’s international operations as MLB’s senior vice president of baseball operations, said yesterday that MLB has declared Aybar ineligible to sign until April 26, 2014, “for submission of improper documents.” Ng declined to provide any further details on Aybar’s case. As of this morning, however, representatives of Aybar and multiple international directors said they were not aware that Aybar had received any disciplinary action.

He was expected to sign for more than a million dollars. That will have to wait a year.