On June 7, 2023, one of Major League Baseball’s (MLB) best relief pitchers began his game with a three-run lead and a variety of pitches in his arsenal that kept hitters guessing.
But sports bettors knew exactly which pitch would come from the pitcher, Emmanuel Clase of the Cleveland Guardians, according to federal prosecutors. They bet that it would be a ball outside the strike zone, with a speed of less than 152.9 km/h.
Clase’s pitch landed in the dirt, well outside the strike zone. Bettors won US$58 thousand (R$308.4 thousand). And it wasn’t the only time, according to prosecutors.
Clase and his Guardians teammate Luis Ortiz were accused of sharing inside information about their pitches with sports bettors, who then bet on the pitches and won hundreds of thousands of dollars on online betting platforms, according to a federal indictment unsealed Sunday in the Eastern District of New York.
Each of the players agreed with bettors about the types of pitches they would throw in upcoming games, according to the indictment. The bettors, who were not identified by prosecutors, then placed bets on the speed or type of pitches and whether they would result in balls inside or outside the strike zone. Clase and Ortiz received thousands of dollars in bribes from gamblers, prosecutors said.
Each was charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to influence sporting competitions through bribery.
“They defrauded the online betting platforms where the bets were placed,” said Joseph Nocella Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. “And they betrayed the American pastime.”
This is the latest gambling indictment to rock the world of professional sports, and the third in the past month brought by federal prosecutors in the Eastern District. The accusations raise concerns about how the widespread legalization of sports betting — which sports leagues have embraced and profited from — has encouraged illicit activity that affects public trust in the games loved by millions of Americans.
Last month, federal prosecutors in Brooklyn filed charges against nearly three dozen defendants in two criminal gambling cases that included current and former National Basketball Association (NBA) players. One involved an insider trading scheme in which sports bettors used non-public information about player availability to place bets on the underperformance of players and teams.
Ortiz, 26, was arrested on Sunday in Boston and will appear in federal court this Monday (10). Clase, 27, was not in custody as of Sunday afternoon. Kelvin Nova, Clase’s agent, declined to comment.
In a statement released Sunday, Chris Georgalis, Ortiz’s attorney, said his client is “innocent of the charges,” as is Michael J. Ferrara, Clase’s attorney.
“He has never and would never unduly influence a game — not for anyone, not for anything,” Georgalis said.
Clase has appeared in three All-Star Games since his debut in 2019. Ortiz, a potent relief pitcher, made his major league debut in 2022 with the Pittsburgh Pirates and joined the Guardians in 2025.
The scheme described by promoters involved micro-betting, in which bettors bet on smaller events, such as the speed of a pitch, that are often resolved quickly in the middle of a game, rather than betting on the final outcome of the match.
The commissioners of several sports leagues have spoken out about the need to restrict this type of betting. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said last month that he had asked the league’s partners to “reduce some of the event-specific betting” — bets on individual players’ performance. The NFL has also worked to ban certain in-play bets, such as betting on whether a kicker will miss a field goal.
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred told reporters in July that certain bets were “unnecessary and particularly vulnerable.”
According to prosecutors, the scheme dates back to May 2023, when Clase began agreeing with bettors to make certain types of pitches in games and future at-bats. Clase sometimes used his phone in the middle of games to coordinate bets, prosecutors said.
Often, according to the indictment, Clase would throw a fraudulent pitch on his first pitch. Generally, a ball outside the strike zone, slow and in the dirt, prosecutors said. Over the next two years, according to the indictment, Clase provided information to bettors that led to more than a hundred fraudulent bets being placed on his pitches.
In April 2025, Clase began asking for and receiving payments for making the agreed upon pitches, according to the indictment. After a bet that won US$15,000 (R$80,000) on an online platform, Clase told the bettor to send part of the winnings to a contact in the Dominican Republic, for “repairs to the country house”.
During the 2025 season, Ortiz joined the scheme, prosecutors said. Before a June 15 game against the Seattle Mariners, Ortiz agreed to throw a ball as his first pitch in the second inning in exchange for $5,000, with another $5,000 going to Clase.
Overall, bettors profited at least US$450,000 (R$2.4 million) from bets on Clase and Ortiz’s pitches, according to the indictment, with at least US$400,000 (R$2.1 million) coming from Clase’s pitches.
Both players were placed on paid leave in July after MLB began an investigation into suspicious betting activity on individual pitches at their games.
In a statement released Sunday, MLB said it cooperated with federal authorities and was aware of the allegation. The league said its own investigation is also continuing. A statement from the Guardians said the team was also aware of the allegation and would cooperate with law enforcement and MLB’s investigation.
