Former Guardians pitchers set for trial over alleged pitch-betting scheme

Former Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz are due to stand trial on Monday, November 2, in a federal court in Brooklyn, New York, over accusations that they took bribes to help gamblers profit from bets on individual pitches. Both have pleaded not guilty to the conspiracy charges.

The jury trial is expected to last about a month, with the pitchers’ careers and potential loss of freedom at stake. Professional baseball players, including catchers, and baseball executives are expected to testify. Clase, formerly the Guardians’ closer, and Ortiz, a starting pitcher, remain on unpaid, non-disciplinary leave from the club.

The indictment alleges that the two players received thousands of dollars in payments for helping two gamblers from their native Dominican Republic win at least $460,000. Those winnings allegedly came from in-game prop bets concerning the speed and outcome of particular pitches. Prosecutors say Clase started sharing information about his pitches in 2023 and brought Ortiz into the alleged arrangement in 2025.

Ortiz’s lawyers sought a separate trial, but that request was unsuccessful. Both pitchers face charges of wire fraud conspiracy, honest services wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy and conspiracy to influence sporting contests through bribery. Their defence lawyers are expected to contend that the players were changing pitch placement as a strategy to deceive batters, rather than coordinating with gamblers.

At a conference on the Friday before the trial, Judge Kiyo A Matsumoto said she hoped jury selection would finish quickly enough to allow lawyers to give relatively brief opening statements on Monday afternoon. The proceedings follow the disclosure of charges against the pitchers in November 2025.

Clase, 28, has been selected as an All-Star three times and named American League Reliever of the Year twice. When the charges became public, he had completed the fourth season of a five-year contract worth $20 million. Ortiz, 27, earned $782,600 as a Guardians starting pitcher during the 2025 season.

In a ruling on Friday, Matsumoto barred prosecutors from presenting evidence that Clase owed $500,000 in US taxes. She excluded it because prosecutors had given the material to defence lawyers only several days earlier, well beyond the deadline for disclosing evidence. A prosecutor said the government wanted to use it to counter any defence argument that Clase’s multimillion-dollar accounts in the Dominican Republic left him without a financial incentive to participate in the alleged scheme.

MLB and the Guardians have said they cooperated fully with authorities. The league said it reached out to federal law enforcement after opening an investigation into unusual betting activity.