The federal trial of Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz, currently on unpaid leave, continues this week in New York. They're accused of intentionally manipulating pitches to help sports bettors win money.
Ideastream Public Media sports commentator Terry Pluto said betting on whether an individual pitch will be a ball or strike is a form of prop betting, with a negative impact on the game as a whole.
“In the old days, when you called a bookie from a pay phone, you just put some action down on whether the team's gonna win or lose," Pluto said. "I mean, that seems almost romantic compared to all this stuff."
Clase and Ortiz pleaded not guilty to conspiracy charges filed last year. Prosecutors allege the pitchers accepted thousands of dollars in exchange for manipulating individual pitches, allowing bettors to win at least $460,000. Both have been on leave since June 2025 while the investigation and prosecution proceed.
Pluto said the alleged scheme may have been presented to the players as an easy way to make money without affecting the outcome of a game.
“(A bettor would say), ‘This won't hurt your team, all you got to do is you tell us the inning, first pitch, you just throw a ball, and then you go back and pitch your game,'" Pluto said. "'That's it. Nobody gets hurt. You make a little money on the side.’”
Ortiz initially portrayed himself as a victim of Clase's alleged scheme. But both players' defense teams are now pointing the finger at a gambler named Enoc Peña, accusing him of exploiting the pitchers and misleading bettors. The defense maintains the disputed pitches were part of normal baseball strategy.
Prosecutors, meanwhile, say Clase used coded language, including references to “roosters” and “chickens,” to signal when he would throw a manipulated pitch. His attorneys argue the messages referred to cockfighting, a legal business Clase operates in the Dominican Republic.
Former Guardians catcher Bo Naylor also testified for the defense, saying he saw nothing suspicious about the disputed pitches.
“(Naylor) said, ‘I had no idea you could place bets like that,’” Pluto said.
The allegations have already cost the pitchers significant money and could jeopardize their careers.
Clase was set to earn $6.4 million in 2026 and could have been in line for a $10 million salary in 2027. Instead, he earned no salary. Ortiz also lost his $782,000 salary last year, with the potential to earn more as his career progressed.
Pluto questioned whether the alleged payments were worth the financial consequences.
“These guys are getting like $5,000 or $10,000 allegedly, by the way, all these things for throwing the pitch out of the strike zone,” Pluto said. “And I'm sure that they were probably trying to get some of these guys to take a plea because it would make everything easier, but the players know if they take a plea that their chance of ever getting back into baseball is less than zero. I mean, I don't know if anybody would take him anyway after this.”
Pluto said the trial has also presented some unusual challenges because of the level of baseball knowledge needed to understand the allegations.
He pointed to questions raised by the judge, as reported by The Athletic.
“At one point, the judge said, ‘Well, what's the difference between an inning and an outing?’" Pluto said. "An inning, of course, is ... one, two, three (outs). An outing (for a pitcher) ... can be several innings. And then the other question was ‘Detroit and the White Sox, are they the same thing?’" And like, of course, (it’s) the Chicago White Sox and Detroit Tigers. I guess you could say the judge is certainly impartial in that regard (and) doesn't know much about baseball, but it also gets deep into the swamp of baseball minutia."
The case also raises broader questions about the relationship between professional sports and legalized gambling. MLB has restricted wagers on individual pitches, including a $200 maximum on bets and a ban on including them in parlays.
Pluto says those restrictions may not go far enough.
“This is really some dirty stuff when you lift up the rug … and by the way, of course, Major League Baseball and all these sports teams have opened themselves to this stuff by pushing so hard for legalized gambling," Pluto said. "And not only that, selling sponsorships to all of these different big gambling sites on their broadcast, it's nuts. If you watch the game, you're just inundated with this stuff.”
