Pelotero (Ballplayer) – 7.5

There’s a dance in the Dominican Republic on July 2 each year, when Major League baseball teams are permitted to sign contracts with 16-year-old Dominican ballplayers, who have this one chance to raise their entire family out of poverty. The temptation is great to lie about one’s age to command a higher signing bonus. MLB, conversely, is an unchallenged monopoly with an incentive to keep signing bonuses down. The documentary makers ofPelotero had the good fortune to choose for their story two young ballplayers who ended up exemplifying this push-and-pull: one seemingly the victim of collusion to keep his price down by spreading rumors of his ineligibility; the other, to the shock of his coach, having a fake birth certificate. The best news is that the former wound end signing, for less money, with the blameless Minnesota Twins and is now their top-rated minor-league player.

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