To be honest, I'm not entirely sure that most of Panama's Little League World Series roster weren't over the age limit, but Carlos Gonzalez was too obvious. This kid is literally Danny Almonte 2.0. The biggest clue that Gonzalez is probably closer to 16 was the absolute HEAT he was throwing from the mound. Gonzalez's fast ball was regularly clocking in at a blistering 81mph, sometimes reaching 83mph. ESPN's reaction time conversion chart, which compares a little league batter's relative reaction time to a pitch to what the speed it would equate to in the majors, didn't even go that high. The chart stopped at 77mph, which is the equivalent of facing a 100mph fast ball in the majors. So Gonzalez was basically Aroldis Chapman throwing 105mph heaters at kids who haven't reached puberty. Gonzalez occasionally showed that he had more to his repertoire and mix up his pitches with some change ups and sliders to dominate batters. But what was even more impressive about Gonzalez's pitching superiority was his control. He teased different parts of the strike zone and commanded each pitch to go exactly where he intended it to go. Gonzalez held the high octane South Korean team, who finished as tournament runners up, to 2 runs on 2 hits through 4 innings pitched.

But it wasn't just Gonzalez's pitching dominance that was a red flag, it was his composure, and for lack of a better word, swag on the mound. Gonzalez didn't handle himself like a typical 12 year old. He was completely collected on the mound, even the way he wore his uniform and his routine between pitches was reminiscent of a high school player. At an age where its not uncommon, even at the Little League World Series, to see a pitcher cry on the mound after giving up a walk, Gonzalez was stoic, never expressing the slightest hint of emotion, not even a smile. He's not a complete physical freak, listed as 5'9 160 lbs., but he certainly has the pitching arsenal for someone to believe he's bigger than that. Oh, he's a good batter too, going 8-12 with 1 homer and 5 RBIs in the tournament.

We all know Little League has had it's share of age controversies, most notably the Danny Almonte saga in 2001, but there have been others too. In 1992 Zamboanga City from the Philippines were stripped of their international title after it was discovered that they had essentially formed a national all-star team. Teams from Taiwan were long alleged to have been using over-aged and out-of-district players on their teams during their dominant run of championships during the 70s and 80s, and even disaffiliated themselves with Little League after the governing body imposed stricter rules on district sizes and age verification in the wake of the Zamboanga City scandal. So who's to say that this team from Panama isn't guilty of cheating? Central American countries aren't exactly renowned for their record keeping and actually have a history of tampering with birth certificates, especially for baseball players. While not in Central America, Panama's Caribbean counterparts, Cuba and the Dominican Republic, have a habit of falsifying ball players' birth certificates, most notably Rafael Furcal and Miguel Tejada. I can't prove that the Panamanian team lied about their players' ages, but I would take Carlos Gonzalez's 'official' birth certificate with a grain of salt. What's also sketchy about the Panamanian team's dominance, going 5-0 through regionals outscoring opponents 48-5 and 4-1 at the LLWS, is that they come from the small, rural town of Aguadulce, Panama. Aguadulce has a population of just over 8,000 and I have a very difficult time believing that a community this small could produce a competitive group of 11-12 year baseball players, let alone the third best team in the world. The numbers just don't add up and I wouldn't be surprised to see some sort of foul play by the Panamanian team if Little League decides to investigate them.