Prosecutors Call Clase and Ortiz Cheaters at Trial

Assistant US Attorney Rebecca Urquiola told a Brooklyn jury on Wednesday, November 4, that Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz “are cheaters” as their pitch-rigging trial opened in the Eastern District of New York. Prosecutors say the pair told bettors in advance what certain pitches would be, helping gamblers pocket at least $460,000 on wagers over whether a pitch would be a ball or a strike, and how fast it would come in.

Every charge is an allegation. Clase, 28, and Ortiz, 27, have pleaded not guilty and remain free on bail. Their New York trial began with jury selection on November 2 before Judge Kiyo A. Matsumoto, nearly a year after the indictment was unsealed in November 2025.

Eighteen Pitches and a Code Word

Prosecutors say Clase rigged at least 18 pitches in 17 games between May 19, 2023, and May 28, 2025. He often threw the pitches in the dirt so they’d be called balls, or tipped off bettors that an off-speed pitch was coming. According to ESPN, the messages used code words such as “rooster” and “chicken.” Clase’s lawyers say those words were about cockfighting, which is legal in the Dominican Republic, where he grew up.

Ortiz, a starter, allegedly joined in June 2025 and threw two rigged balls in two games. The indictment release says bettors agreed to pay Ortiz a $5,000 bribe for a pitch on June 15, 2025, and $7,000 for another on June 27, with matching payments to Clase for arranging them. Before the second game, it says, Clase withdrew $50,000 in cash and handed $15,000 to a co-conspirator to bet on Ortiz’s pitch.

What the Bettors Won

The government says the bettors won at least $400,000 on Clase’s pitches and at least $60,000 on Ortiz’s. ESPN reported that the bets went through DraftKings, FanDuel and ESPN BET, and that the wagers on the two Ortiz pitches were up to “136 times greater” than the bettors’ average, according to a government filing.

The charges are wire fraud conspiracy, honest services wire fraud conspiracy, conspiracy to influence sporting contests by bribery and money laundering conspiracy. Three of those counts carry up to 20 years in prison, and the bribery count carries up to five.

A DraftKings Investigator Takes the Stand

The sportsbooks are central to the government’s case. Joel Trella, director of DraftKings’ special investigations unit, walked jurors through the company’s review of linked accounts that bet on Clase pitches, including one set up by co-defendant Robinson Vásquez Germosen. On Thursday, he testified that DraftKings found 160 geolocation pings from its accounts used in Clase’s house, and a government lawyer told the court that 14 people were geolocated there.

An MLB lawyer took the stand on Wednesday too. Paul Mifsud, MLB’s head of baseball operations counsel, said that telling a bettor about planned pitches would be inconsistent with the loyalty clause in every player contract.

Two Bettors Describe the Tips

Edward Canario, a cooperating government witness, said he used information from co-defendant Luis Arismendy Paca Méndez to bet on Clase pitches in May and June 2023 and split the winnings with him. Betting records showed he bet upwards of $600 per wager on pitches being slower than 94.5 mph or ending as a ball. Under cross-examination, Canario said Paca Méndez never claimed to have inside information but called them “for-sure bets.”

On Friday, bettor Luis de Aza Baez testified that he got tips from Enoc Pena, an associate of Clase, through a group chat called “Uber Inc.” He said the information dried up in 2024 because of “what was going on with Ohtani,” a reference to the scandal over Shohei Ohtani’s former interpreter. He also admitted opening a DraftKings account in his wife’s name to bet more, and he has agreed to forfeit $69,000 in winnings.

The Defense Calls It Big Talk

The defense has put Pena at the center of the case, and it does not trust him. Clase’s lawyer, Michael Bronson, called Pena a “serial liar” and said that while Clase saw him as a friend, “Pena saw Clase as a mark.” Bronson told jurors that Pena made more than 7,000 bets from 2023 to 2025 and lost over 200 of them on Clase’s pitches. Pena is cooperating with the government, but prosecutors said before openings that they don’t plan to call him as a witness.

Ortiz’s lawyer, Samuel Landes, said his client never spoke to the bettors and that only two pitches, both balls, are at issue. “That’s not a conspiracy. That’s just baseball,” he said. Todd Spodek, who represents Vásquez, summed up his defense in four words, “big talk, small bets,” and said his client won “maybe $3,000.”

A Catcher Who Saw Nothing Unusual

The defense also called former Guardians catcher Bo Naylor out of order on Thursday so he could leave for his wedding. Naylor caught seven of the 18 Clase pitches in question and 14 of Ortiz’s 16 starts in 2025, and he said the pitches looked like common sliders outside the strike zone. He told the court he did not know sportsbooks took bets on individual pitches until the case became public.

Pitch Bets Now Come With a Cap

Pitch betting has already been reined in. ESPN reported that MLB has asked sportsbooks to cap wagers on individual pitches at $200 and to keep them out of parlays. A bet on whether a pitch is a ball or a strike is a type of prop bet, and the AP noted that legal sports betting has spread to 39 states since the US Supreme Court cleared the way in 2018. ESPN also called the case the first of five federal sports gambling cases involving alleged manipulation by athletes over the past three years to reach trial.

The trial is set to resume on Thursday, November 12, and Judge Matsumoto expects it to run until December 3. If convicted, each pitcher faces up to 20 years in prison on each of three counts.