Prosecutors Ready Pitch Rigging Case Against Clase
Mike Goodpaster Published 29/09/2026
Federal prosecutors have identified 18 specific pitches that they will use to build their pitch-rigging case against former MLB relief pitcher Emmanuel Clase. One of those pitches was thrown during an MLB playoff game. The pitches in question were thrown while Clase was the closer for the Cleveland Guardians during the 2023, 2024, and 2025 baseball seasons. Clase is accused of tipping bettors in advance about whether the pitches in question would be balls or strikes. They would then place player prop bets based on the advice they received from Clase.
Another former Cleveland pitcher, Luis Ortiz, is also alleged to have been part of this pitch-tipping scheme.
Court documents reveal the case against Clase
Documentation of the list of allegedly tipped pitches is part of court filings by prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York. There are 17 games including pitches thrown by Clase that prosecutors are identifying as suspicious. Clase was throwing these pitches in 17 different games spanning a time frame from May 19, 2023, through May 28, 2025.
The first pitch the court documents identify was thrown to Starling Marte on May 19, 2023. He was delivering the final pitch to Andy Pages on May 23, 2025. According to reporting by ESPN, also included on the list is a pitch Clase threw to Matt Vierling of the Detroit Tigers during an American League Division Series postseason game on October 5, 2024. The pitch, a 93 mph slider thrown in the ninth inning, was out of the strike zone. Cleveland won the game 7-0.
Nine of the suspect pitches were thrown in 2023. Two were delivered in 2024, and the remaining seven pitches on the list were tossed in 2025.
The original list cited 48 pitches thrown by Clase
Originally, the prosecutors supplied to lawyers representing Clase and Ortiz a list of 48 pitches they considered to be under suspicion. They've since narrowed the list to the aforementioned 18 pitches.
The two suspect pitches prosecutors allege Ortiz was throwing are not identified in court documents.
"The government will only seek to prove that for one or more of approximately 18 of Clase's pitches, and for two of Ortiz's pitches, the defendants provided advance inside information about their pitches to others, who bet on them," U.S. attorney Joseph Nocella wrote.
Online sports betting sites flagged unusual betting activity on several pitches thrown by the two pitchers during June of 2025. MLB officials contacted federal law enforcement when it began its own investigation of the unusual betting activity.
MLB wound up placing Clase and Ortiz on non-disciplinary paid leave in July of 2025. They haven't played baseball since. The Guardians and Major League Baseball are cooperating with the investigation.
Both players pleaded not guilty to all charges
Clase, Ortiz, and two other defendants face wire fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy charges. In February, speaking Spanish, both pitchers entered not guilty pleas through a translator in Brooklyn federal court. They are both free on bail.
They are facing accusations of accepting several thousand dollars in payoffs and helping two gamblers from their native Dominican Republic. Those bettors won at least $460,000 by placing more than 100 in-game prop bets and parlays. All of the wagers were on the speed and the outcome of specific pitches.
Lawyers representing Oritz are suggesting that their client was a victim of Clase's scheme more than he was a participant.
"Mr. Clase may have abused his relationship with Mr. Ortiz as friends and teammates by convincing Mr. Ortiz to throw certain pitches at certain times -- ostensibly for baseball reasons as far as Mr. Ortiz was aware," Oritz's lawyers wrote.
Jury selection for the trial will be beginning in November.
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