Two seemingly random pitches
Another potential sports betting scandal is brewing, this time in Major League Baseball (MLB). ESPN’s David Purdum and Jeff Passan reported Thursday that the league is investigating Cleveland Guardians pitcher Luis Ortiz for two pitches – that’s correct, two specific pitches – that raised red flags at a betting integrity company.
The sports betting integrity watchdog, IC360, sent alerts to sportsbooks in June regarding a pitch Ortiz threw on June 15 against the Seattle Mariners and one he threw on June 27 against the St. Louis Cardinals.
Some sportsbooks take action on anything and everything that happens during a sporting event. Wagers on things like whether the next play in a football game will be a pass, the next shot made will be a three pointer, or, in this case, the first pitch in the inning will be a ball or a hit batter, are known as “microbets.”
The league has placed Ortiz on “non-disciplinary paid leave” until July 17.
Did he miss the strike zone on purpose?
According to Purdum and Passan, there was suspicious betting activity (read: unusually heavy action) on Ortiz to miss the strike zone on the first pitch of the bottom of the second inning against the Mariners and in the top of the third versus the Cardinals.
Internet sleuths have found the two pitches in question. Baseball content creator Jomboy Media, of which MLB recently acquired a stake, posted the two pitches side by side on social media:
The first pitch under the microscope is the one against Randy Arozarena of the Mariners (for those not familiar with baseball, Ortiz is wearing a gray uniform in the video). It’s a slider that bounces low and outside for an obvious ball, but frankly, there is nothing about it that looks unusual. Of course, we do not know exactly what MLB is looking for and if they have gone so far as to put Ortiz on leave, they very well may have more information and evidence than is known to the public.
It was nowhere close to being a strike.
The pitch in the second video against the Cardinals’ Pedro Pagés looks much fishier now that we know that it is one that was flagged. It is another slider that bounced low and away, but it was far worse than the pitch in the Seattle game. It was nowhere close to being a strike.
Without IC360 flagging the two pitches for unusual betting, though, nobody would think anything of them. It is difficult to judge individual pitches out of context.
One year after player banned for life
Thirteen months ago, MLB banned San Diego’s Tucupita Marcano for life for violating the league’s gambling policy. An investigation found that the infielder placed 231 bets on MLB games in 2022 and 2023 when he was with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Most were parlays.
What got him banned was the fact that 25 of the wagers included Pirates games while he was on the major league roster. He did not play in any of the games, as he was out with an injury.
Marcano bet $87,319 on MLB games and only won 4.3% of his wagers. The league determined that the games were not compromised as a result of his betting.
Four other players received one-year suspensions at the same time Marcano was banned: Michael Kelly, Andrew Saalfrank, Jay Groome, and José Rodríguez. All were reinstated last month. Only Kelly has returned to the big leagues.
