A 14-year-old boy who dreamed of becoming a Major League Baseball player died in the Dominican Republic after his trainer allegedly injected him with steroids.
Ismael Ureña trained at the Yordy Cabrera Baseball Academy and had to leave the program after developing complications from boldenone, the Diario Libre newspaper reported Thursday.
This steroid is normally used in horses to improve their performance.
Ureña had complained to his older brother that he could not feel his legs. The color of the whites of his eyes turned yellow and the color of his urine was as red as blood.
His mother, Iris Pérez, told the newspaper that her son begged to quit training at the academy and then took him to a local doctor’s office, where blood tests confirmed he had been injected with steroids.
Ureña spent several days in a hospital bed before dying in August.
Pérez revealed that her two other sons had also trained at the Yordy Cabrera Baseball Academy and were also reportedly injected with steroids.
The two boys were diagnosed with tachycardia, a condition that causes the heart rate to increase faster than normal and causes vision problems.
Ismael Ureña, a 14-year-old baseball prospect, died in August after reportedly being injected with boldenone, which is normally applied to horses to improve their performance, while training at the Yordy Cabrera Baseball Academy.
A team of five lawyers affiliated with the nonprofit Family Without Violence Foundation is representing the family and appeared before the Santo Domingo Este Public Prosecutor’s Office on Tuesday to file charges against Yordy Cabrera.
The lawyers are seeking an injunctive relief and request that Cabrera be arrested and placed in pre-trial detention while the case is investigated.
“I’m here because I want justice, because they killed my son, and I want justice for my son,” Ureña’s father, Inoel, told a judge.
“They injected him with things I didn’t say they should inject into my son, and that’s why I want justice.”
Cabrera was drafted to the Oakland Athletics in the second round of the 2010 MLB draft.
He spent parts of eight minor league seasons with the Athletics, Miami Marlins, Detroit Tigers and Los Angeles Dodgers.
DailyMail.com contacted Cabrera for comment.
Baldenone was created for veterinary use, according to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, but remains a popular performance-enhancing drug among athletes.
The Food and Drug Administration bans its use in humans, although athletes have obtained it illegally to increase muscle mass and strength.
‘Boldenone causes reduced testosterone production in men,’ the US Anti-Doping Agency explains on its site.
‘In animal studies, boldenone has caused significant damage to the reproductive system and fertility in men, including reduced testicle size, lower sperm count and lower sperm mobility.
‘In addition, boldenone has been classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer as a probable human carcinogen.’