11/04/2026 02:05:00
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11/04 14:04 CST Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz
described as 'cheaters' at trial
Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz described as
'cheaters' at trial
By LARRY NEUMEISTER
Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) --- Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz
were described by a prosecutor Wednesday as "cheaters" during opening
statements at a New York criminal fraud trial that has cast a spotlight on the
threat gamblers pose to America's pastime.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Rebecca Urquiola told a jury in Brooklyn that Clase
befriended a sports betting gambler in the Dominican Republic in early 2023 who
shared his interest in dominoes and cockfighting, which is legal in his home
country.
Clase eventually agreed to tell "his new friend" what kinds of pitches he would
throw in certain games, enabling gamblers to reap at least $460,000 on
platforms that allow customers to bet on whether a pitch would be a ball or a
strike, she said.
"The defendants, Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz, are cheaters," Urquiola told
jurors. She said they "sold their pitches."
Clase, the Guardians' former star closer, and Ortiz, a starter, have pleaded
not guilty to conspiracy charges and are on non-disciplinary leave from the
club without pay while facing prosecution. They were arrested in November 2025
and have been free on bail since.
Prosecutors said Clase began providing information about his pitches to bettors
in 2023 and recruited Ortiz into the scheme in 2025.
Clase, 28, is a three-time All-Star and two-time American League Reliever of
the Year who had completed the fourth season of a $20 million, five-year
contract when conspiracy and fraud charges against the pitchers were made
public in November 2025.
Ortiz, 27, earned $782,600 as a starting pitcher for the Guardians during the
2025 season.
Urquiola said Clase saw gamblers profiting from his pitches and "decided it
wasn't enough to help his friends make money," so he asked for kickbacks.
She said text messages in which the pitchers described rigged pitches and bets,
sometimes using code words such as "chicken" or "rooster," along with testimony
from some gamblers, would prove the government's case.
Defense lawyers, however, said their clients were innocent and that a gambler
who befriended Clase falsely claimed to other gamblers that the pitcher was
providing inside information on his pitches and tried to sell them the
information.
Michael Bronson, an attorney for Clase, said his client attended school until
age 15 in a small coastal village in the Dominican Republic before focusing on
baseball and becoming "a standout, a superstar" with a reputation for shutting
down teams in the final inning of games.
He said Clase was 25 in the spring of 2023 when he met a 41-year-old gambler,
Enoc Pena, who made over 7,000 bets from 2023 to 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 said.
Soon Pena was bringing Clase food and picking him up at the airport in the
Dominican Republic, the lawyer said. The pitcher, in turn, gave him tickets to
Guardians games and loaned him money.
As Pena bragged to fellow gamblers that he was close to Clase and tried to sell
them information, he was actually guessing which pitches Clase would throw in
games and managed with fellow gamblers to lose over 200 bets on Clase's
pitches, the lawyer said.
Pena was "selling lies," Bronson said, urging jurors to ask themselves if his
client would risk "a fortune and his lifelong dream over a few thousand
dollars."
Attorney Samuel Landes, representing Ortiz, told jurors in an opening statement
that the pitcher had no contact with gamblers and that only two of his pitches,
both balls, are at stake in the trial.
"That's not a conspiracy. That's just baseball," he said.
At one point, Landes asked his client to stand as he introduced him to the
jury. Ortiz stood up and waved.
Landes said Ortiz was victimized by Pena's lies, including allegations that the
pitcher --- who had received $1.7 million in advance for future contracts and
stood to make millions more --- had accepted $5,000 for tips about his pitches.
"Why would Luis Ortiz throw all that away for $5,000? He would not," he said.
Landes said Pena had struck a deal with prosecutors allowing him to avoid
prison and stay in the U.S. despite lying to banks and about his marital status
on immigration forms.
Although Pena was once listed as a possible witness at the trial, prosecutors
said last week that they did not intend to put him on the witness stand.
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