Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz have been indicted by prosecutors in Brooklyn, N.Y., on charges relating to a sports-betting scheme, according documents obtained by Pablo Torre and ESPN’s Jeff Passan on Sunday.
According to the indictment from the Court of the Eastern District of New York, the pitchers allegedly threw balls intentionally while bettors wagered on specific pitches to be balls or strikes. The pitchers were allegedly paid thousands of dollars for each incidence.
Clase and Ortiz could face up to 65 years in prison if convicted on all charges, which include fraud, conspiracy and bribery.
The indictment alleges that Clase’s incidents started as early as May 2023, with Ortiz getting involved later.
Ortiz was arrested in Boston on Sunday and Clase is not yet in custody, Passan reported.
Both pitchers were placed on leave by MLB in July as the league cooperated with federal law enforcement in its investigations.
The initial Ortiz investigation was related to in-game prop bets on two pitches thrown by the right-hander that received higher activity than usual during his starts at Seattle on June 15 and against St. Louis on June 27. The gambling activity on the pitches was flagged by a betting-integrity firm and forwarded to MLB.
The pair of Cleveland pitchers on leave comes after MLB suspended five players for gambling in June 2024, including a lifetime ban for San Diego Padres infielder Tucupita Marcano. MLB said Marcano placed 387 baseball bets totalling more than $150,000 with a legal sportsbook in 2022 and 2023.
Athletics pitcher Michael Kelly and three minor leaguers — San Diego pitcher Jay Groome, Arizona pitcher Andrew Saalfrank and Philadelphia infielder José Rodríguez — received one-year suspensions.
Umpire Pat Hoberg was fired by MLB in February for sharing his legal sports gambling accounts with a friend who bet on baseball games, and for intentionally deleting electronic messages pertinent to the league’s investigation.
— With files from the Associated Press
