As spring training starts, Guardians pitchers fight pitch-rigging case in Brooklyn

DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — A scheduled spring fraud trial for two Cleveland Guardians pitchers accused of colluding with sports bettors to rig bets and betray “America’s pastime” will likely be postponed until October, a federal judge said Wednesday as the men pleaded not guilty to a rewritten indictment.

Judge Kiyo A. Matsumoto left a May 4 trial date on the books for now, but indicated she’ll probably move it to the fall in the coming weeks.

Pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz, speaking Spanish, entered not guilty pleas through a translator to a rewritten indictment in Brooklyn federal court.

No new charges were in the superseding indictment unsealed on Friday, as prosecutors charged a third individual with serving as a middleman between bettors and Clase. That person also pleaded not guilty Wednesday.

The pitchers were first charged in November with accepting several thousand dollars in payoffs to help two gamblers from their native Dominican Republic win at least $460,000 by placing more than 100 in-game prop bets and parlays on the speed and the outcome of certain pitches. Charges include wire fraud conspiracy and conspiracy to influence sporting contests.

The rewritten indictment released Friday added allegations that Clase used code words like “rooster” and “chicken” in communications about pitches to be thrown.

Prior to a May 18, 2025, game against the Cincinnati Reds, Clase received a message to “throw a rock at the first rooster in today’s fight” and responded with: “Yes, of course, that’s an easy toss to that rooster,” the indictment said. However, Clase never entered the game and could not fulfill the plan to throw outside the strike zone to the first batter he faced, it added.

A day earlier, though, Clase broke Major League Baseball rules by using his cellphone in the middle of a game against the Reds to signal to gamblers that a pitch would be outside the strike zone, enabling them to win about $27,000, the indictment said.

Clase, the Guardians’ former closer, and Ortiz, a starter, have been on non-disciplinary paid leave since July. Their teammates are just starting training camp for the new season. The team’s home opener is April 3.

Clase and Ortiz, who are free on bail, left the courthouse separately after Wednesday’s hearing. Neither commented. Lawyers for both men have insisted their clients never colluded with gamblers.

Lawyers for Ortiz have asked that he be tried separately, saying in court papers that if Clase passed along Ortiz’s pitching strategy to gamblers, he did so without Ortiz’s knowledge. They also noted that Ortiz is accused of throwing only two pitches that drew scrutiny over a 12-day span, while Clase is charged with colluding with gamblers on numerous pitches since 2023.

“Mr. Clase may have abused his relationship with Mr. Ortiz as friends and teammates by convincing Mr. Ortiz to throw certain pitches at certain times — ostensibly for baseball reasons as far as Mr. Ortiz was aware,” the lawyers wrote.

They said they might present a defense to the jury that would cast “Ortiz as a victim of Mr. Clase’s scheme, rather than a knowing and willing participant.”

Clase, a three-time All-Star, had a $4.5 million salary in 2025, the fourth season of a $20 million, five-year contract. Prosecutors say he started providing bettors with information about his pitches in 2023 but didn’t seek payoffs until last year.

Prosecutors have said that Ortiz, who had a $782,600 salary last season, joined the scheme last June.

The Guardians and Major League Baseball have said they are cooperating with the investigation. MLB said it contacted federal law enforcement when it began investigating unusual betting activity.