The extent to which former Cleveland Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase rigged pitches may be much greater than previously thought. According to ESPN’s David Purdum, a Thursday court filing claims that Clase threw over 250 suspicious pitches in at least 48 games for betting purposes.
The filing was not from federal prosecutors, but rather from the attorney of Clase’s co-conspirator and Guardians teammate, Luis Ortiz. Christos N. Georgalis claims that Ortiz was not involved in throwing games nearly to the extent of Clase and thus the two have “markedly different levels of culpability.”
Georgalis wants their cases separated so Ortiz can receive a fair trial. He believes that if a jury were to be presented with evidence against both players side by side, Ortiz would be judged unfairly harshly.
suspicious betting activity surrounding specific pitches
Ortiz was placed on leave from the Guardians in July 2025, Clase in August, upon MLB’s investigation into suspicious betting activity surrounding specific pitches they threw to start innings.
For months, all that was known publicly was that two of Ortiz’s pitches from June 2025 were under scrutiny, pitches which were subject to unusual high wagers that they would be balls. Sure enough, neither pitch found the strike zone.
In November, a federal indictment was unsealed that accused Clase of fishy pitches in nine games. But this latest filing from Ortiz’s attorney says that the government has evidence of more than 250 suspect pitches in at least 48 games from 2023 to 2025, and “dozens of communications with [a bettor], cash transfers and coordination of illegal wagers.”
Ortiz and Clase have been accused of accepting payments from bettors in the Dominican Republic who won over $460,000 on prop bets on the players’ specific pitches and pitch speed. The pitches known to the public allegedly missed the strike zone intentionally, and it is probably safe to assume that the rest were, as well, as it is much easier to purposely throw a ball, as opposed to a strike.
Both players have been charged with wire fraud conspiracy, honest services wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, and conspiracy to influence sporting events by bribery.
