Cleveland Guardians relief pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz appeared in federal court in Brooklyn on Wednesday as opening statements began in their gambling-related fraud case. Both men have pleaded not guilty to conspiracy charges and remain on non-disciplinary, unpaid leave from the team while the case proceeds. They were arrested in November 2025 and have since been free on bail.
Prosecutors allege the pitchers deliberately manipulated their own pitches during games so that bettors wagering on individual pitch outcomes could profit, with Clase and Ortiz allegedly receiving kickbacks in return.
Prosecution’s Account
Assistant U.S. Attorney Rebecca Urquiola called the two players “cheaters” who “sold their pitches” during her opening statement. She told jurors that Clase befriended a sports betting gambler in the Dominican Republic in early 2023, bonding over a shared interest in dominoes and cockfighting, a legal activity there.
According to Urquiola, Clase noticed gamblers were profiting from knowledge of his pitches and eventually asked for a cut himself, agreeing to tell his associate what pitches he would throw in specific games. She said the arrangement allowed bettors to win at least $460,000 through platforms that let customers wager on whether a given pitch would be called a ball or a strike.
The indictment further alleges that in one instance, Clase used his phone mid-game to coordinate a pitch choice with a bettor. Prosecutors say bettors won roughly $400,000 off Clase’s pitches between 2023 and 2025, and that Ortiz joined the scheme in June 2025.
Defense’s Account
Defense attorneys countered that both players are innocent, arguing that a gambler who had cultivated a friendship with Clase fabricated claims to other bettors that he had inside knowledge of the pitcher’s pitch selections, then tried to sell that supposed information.
According to defense attorney Bronson, Clase was 25 in the spring of 2023 when he met 41-year-old gambler Enoc Pena, who defense lawyers say placed more than 7,000 bets between 2023 and 2025 and had a history of lying to get what he wanted.
“[Pena] didn’t see a peer, a friend. He saw a mark,” Bronson told jurors.
The defense said Pena began bringing Clase food and picking him up at the airport in the Dominican Republic, while Clase gave him Guardians tickets and loaned him money. Bronson argued that Pena was actually just guessing which pitches Clase would throw while boasting to other gamblers about his supposed inside connection, and that Pena and associates lost more than 200 bets on Clase’s pitches as a result. “He was selling lies,” Bronson said, asking jurors to consider whether his client would risk “a fortune and his lifelong dream over a few thousand dollars.”
Career Context
Clase has been regarded as one of baseball’s premier closers, posting a 1.21 ERA in his last full season in 2024, a mark that earned him a third-place finish in American League Cy Young voting. His ERA had risen to 3.80 in 2025 by the time the investigation began. Clase signed a five-year, $20 million contract just before opening day in 2022, months after finishing fifth in AL Rookie of the Year voting.
Ortiz holds a career 4.36 ERA, with his best season also coming in 2024 at 3.32. He was earning the veteran minimum of $782,600 last season, not yet being arbitration eligible.
