CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Luis Ortiz investigation has sent shockwaves through the Guardians organization, with a promising young starter potentially facing baseball’s harshest penalties if allegations are proven true.
According to league sources, Major League Baseball is investigating whether Ortiz deliberately influenced prop bets through his pitching performance.
“If this is true he faces a penalty of at the minimum of a year’s suspension to maybe a lifetime ban,” Paul Hoynes explained on the Cleveland Baseball Talk Podcast. The investigation, which reportedly will continue through the All-Star break, has put the 26-year-old’s career in serious jeopardy.
The allegations are particularly disturbing as they suggest Ortiz may have compromised the integrity of his performance on the field. “That’s the scary thing,” Joe Noga said.
MLB’s gambling rules are explicit and severe. As Hoynes noted, “One of the anti-gambling rules in baseball is if you are found to not be giving your best performance on the field, that’s a problem.” Additionally, players are required to report any outside gambling approaches, with failure to do so potentially resulting in a ban.
What makes the situation even more troubling is how quickly Ortiz had established himself in Cleveland’s rotation after being acquired from Pittsburgh.
“When they acquired him from the Pirates, Chris Antonetti, two seconds after they acquired him, he said, ‘This guy’s in the rotation,’” Hoynes recalled. “Antonetti doesn’t go on a limb like that. So they really like this guy.”
Ortiz had been showing steady improvement, getting deeper into games and seemingly cementing his place in Cleveland’s future plans. Now, that future hangs in the balance as the investigation continues.
Even if Ortiz is ultimately cleared, the damage to his relationship with teammates and the organization may be irreparable. “Even if he’s cleared, this didn’t come out of the air. MLB didn’t make this up,” Hoynes emphasized. “So what’s the trust factor if he walks back into the locker room?”
That question of trust extends beyond just the clubhouse. “Can the Guardians in good conscience ever run this guy back out on the mound and not think to themselves, ‘Hey, is he in this for us or is he in this for himself?’” Noga wondered.
The investigation reportedly focuses specifically on Ortiz, with no other Cleveland players currently under scrutiny. However, the scope remains concerning. “If they’re looking at two pitches that have come under scrutiny, this guy has thrown over 1,500 pitches this year,” Hoynes noted. “Do they examine every one and align that with the betting line on each pitch?”
As baseball increasingly embraces legalized sports betting through partnerships and in-stadium experiences, this case could serve as a critical precedent. “They’re going to make an example of him if they can,” Noga suggested. “Major League Baseball will, just because they want to make sure that the message is sent to the other players in the league.”
The baseball world now awaits the investigation’s conclusion after the All-Star break, but the ramifications could extend far beyond just one pitcher’s career, potentially reshaping how MLB approaches gambling relationships moving forward.
Note: Artificial intelligence was used to help generate this story from the Cleveland Baseball Talk Podcast by cleveland.com. Visitors to cleveland.com have asked for more text stories based on website podcast discussions.
Podcast transcript
Joe Noga: Welcome back to the Cleveland Baseball Talk Podcast. I’m Joe Noga, joined by Paul Hoynes Hoynsey. The Guardians are in Houston getting ready to take on the Astros after pretty much a disastrous homestand against following it up on Sunday with the the final game of the home stand against the Tigers. The they were in position to win. Steven Kwan delivers an RBI double in the eighth inning. They hand the ball over to Emmanuel Clase in the ninth leading one nothing. And after a brilliant pitching showdown between Tarek Skubal and Gavin Williams. And then the Guardians just found a way to lose. And that’s the, the 10th game in a row, 10 consecutive losses for the first time since 2012. This team is in complete disarray right now. And you know, they managed to lose the game 7 to 2 because of all people, Kate Smith gives up two home runs. Kate Smith hadn’t given up a home run all season long. Just it seems like if it could go wrong. It did go wrong. This not just on Sunday, but throughout the three game homestand. And really ever since Jose Ramirez got plunked on the forearm by Kevin Gosman of the Blue Jays, the Guardians can’t seem to get their act together.
Paul Hoynes: Joe, this is the classic example of a team that can’t get out of its own way. I mean you just looked at that whole game yesterday, you know, from the, in the late innings, you know, Bo Naylor has, has the game time wild pitch go through go through his legs to allow the Tigers to tie it up at 11 with, with two outs in the ninth inning. Then in, in the bottom of the ninth, Angel Martinez leads off with the double and Nolan Jones can’t get him over. Can’t. You know that’s like a mortal, that’s a mortal sin in baseball. You can’t get the guy from some from second to third. That’s, that’s your only job. He and he flies out to right. You know, then they, Bo Naylor finally gets him over but with two outs and, and you know, so that, that potential rally and then I still don’t know what happened in the 10th inning. Joe, that was shocking. We haven’t seen that from Cade Smith since, you know, they called him up last year. I mean, I mean he did not look healthy to me. I know he’s been battling back spasms, but that was not Cade, the Cade Smith we know in that 10th inning and, and they let him twist in the wind out there.
Joe Noga: Yeah, I think it was a, a matter of maybe not Having somebody up because they didn’t necessarily expect that, that to happen to Kate Smith, and that’s why he stayed out there a little longer. I asked Stephen Vogt after the game if Kate Smith was healthy, considering he was coming back after missing some time with the back spasms. He had pitched in Chicago prior to the Detroit series and looked really good when he came in. So that was what made it so surprising was, you know, was this matter of, of him being a little tight still or whatever, but definitely not the Cade Smith that we’re used to seeing. And Trey Sweeney is not the guy that you’re expecting to take Kate Smith deep with. With two men aboard in, in the 10th inning in extra innings. You know, the Riley Green home run, I can live with that. Guy’s an all star. But Trey Sweeney is, is not the guy you’re expecting to take Kate Smith deep. Kate Smith had given up one home run during the regular season in his career to that point, and it had been like 81 appearances since he had given one up. So definitely unexpected. But I want to go back and talk about the, the wild pitch and the, the, the thing that basically the inning that set up, you know, Cade Smith’s disaster there in the 10th Emmanuel class, and I know you can probably pin it on him, you don’t open that inning by hitting the first batter that really sets up the inning, putting that first guy on base, you know, really a bad situation. And, and then you get Zach McKinstry, the pinch runner, going in for, I believe, Spencer Torkelson, and he steals second base and, and Bo Naylor would come in as a, a defensive replacement, not a defensive, to replace Austin Hedges there in the ninth inning. Bo Nailer made a good throw, originally ruled and out at second base. They put the tag on him. But the, the Tigers challenged and they, they got the play overturned pretty much clearly on the replay. The. McKinstry got his hand in there before the tag, but once that happened, you pretty much knew they were going to have a runner in scoring position for the rest of the inning. And, and things got a little hairy for, for, for Class A. We talked to Stephen Vogt, we talked to Bo Naylor after the game about how with the runner on third base that spiked 100 mile an hour cutter in the dirt is pretty much an impossible pitch to block. But it’s a ball that Bo Nailer has to be a wall. He has to get down and close up the holes and make sure that nothing gets through, because you saw what happened. McKinstry was able to score basically without a play.
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, went through the five hole and it wasn’t like it was a shot. You know, I think, you know, he must have put some leather or body part on it because it just kind of trickled through his legs. But it was still far enough behind the plate to let the tying run score. And Joe, just really disappointing. I mean, Bo has had a tough year. He’s not hitting and his defense has been, you know, lukewarm at best. And, you know, that’s probably, you know, being generous.
Joe Noga: Yeah, he’s. He’s throwing the ball well. He’s above average in terms of caught stealing. Occasionally he’ll yip one into the. In the center field, but for the most part, his throws have been accurate. His throws have been on time. Throwing might not be the area where, you know, he needs to concentrate on a little bit. I mean, this goes back to last year’s postseason we saw in the, the American League Championship Series.
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, when him and Cantillo, I mean, I mean, they had to set a playoff record, didn’t they? A postseason record. Three or four wild pitches. It was. Got to a point where it was, it was almost embarrassing, I mean, at Yankee Stadium to do that. The biggest stage in baseball. I mean, that’s tough to live with. And obviously wild pitch is a wild pitch. It gets charged to the pitcher, but the catcher plays a hand in that as well.
Joe Noga: Yeah, I. Looking at, you know, Bone Ailer statistics from the, the regular season so far this year, as far as wild pitches go, wild pitches against him are, you know, this year, but like you said, it’s. That’s a pitcher statistic. However, you know, a good catcher is going to have a low number of those wild pitches. And you go back to the past, balls, pass balls are a little harder to judge. He’s got three officially this year. Last year he had seven. In 2023, he had five. So, you know, as far as pace goes, he’s probably at or around the same pace this year, but it just, it’s more of a feel thing. It just feels like there’s been more action back there, more, you know, the ball getting away from him a little bit more. You know, I don’t want to say sloppy, but that, that sort of comes into it. You know, we know that the, you know, big picture sort of stuff. Things are different for Bo Nailer this year. His brother is not there in the clubhouse as he was the, the first couple of years that he was in the big leagues. But this is a guy who, when you Talk to him. The leadership qualities are there. The, the accountability is there. He will stand up there and talk to the media. He will, he will do everything and say everything. Right. It’s just not translating onto the field as the, the guy that you point to and you say, that’s the guy I want to be my number one.
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, great point, Joe. You know, John McNamara, one of my favorite former Indians managers, he was like a former catcher. He said, when you notice a catcher, that’s usually a bad thing. And when you notice a catcher, the only time you really notice a catcher is when he’s running to the backstop to get a pass ball or a wild pitch. And we’ve seen that, you know, one too many times from Bo this season. Um, you know, I know he’s a hard worker, Joe. I know he’s working at this. Hopefully correct. He’ll correct this. But, you know, it. It’s come at, at tough times in the game. You know, during the, the what the Cubs series, there was a wild pitch with Will, you know, Gavin Williams on the mound. Fortunately, the wild pitch came back, bounced off the stone backstop right to bow, and Bo flipped to Williams and they got the tag at the plate. But that happens rarely. That, that rarely happens.
Joe Noga: So the question, I guess is, does Austin Hedges see more time behind the plate? You know, we know that Austin Hedges is a defense first catcher. He’s had his struggles at times this year as well. You know, age might be setting in and he’s on the backside of his career necessarily right now. But does Austin Hedges, even though he gives you even less than what Bo Nailer is giving you at the plate right now with this pitching staff and the way that they are performing at a high level so far this year, and right now they’re, they’re. You know, you look at Gavin Williams outing from, from Sunday, and that was about as good as we’ve seen Gavin Williams, and that was with Austin Hedges behind the plate for the majority of the game. Does Hedge, you get to see a little bit more playing time and you just sacrifice the offense for, for what he can do defensively?
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, that, that’s a good point, Joe. I think in 2022, we saw him catch a lot more. Him and Luke Maley kind of shared the job. Bull was still coming up. He was kind of the lineup that could be a case. You want, you know, in an instance like this, you want to. I think you want a catcher that can catch that. Okay, you’d be willing to sacrifice the offense, but he has to do one thing well and we know Hedges can catch and throw. But you know, the other factor, Joe, is they’ve got so many guys in that lineup hitting under.200. Do you add one more and do you give that guy more, more, more at bats? I mean, what you. It’s a coin flip right now between Naylor and Hedges.
Joe Noga: Yeah. And you’ve got so many catchers on that roster, on that coaching staff. Craig Albanez, Danny Alomar. These are veteran guys who know what they’re talking about. Know Stephen Vogt was a catcher. I mean, when you talk and, and Stephen Vogt sits up there on a regular basis and when we talk about Austin Hedges, refers to Austin Hedges as the greatest defensive catcher in the world. And you know, I don’t, I don’t really necessarily think he’s, he’s blowing smoke when he says that he really does recognize that Hedgy has, has those skills. But it’s just a matter of, you know, is that enough to, to sort of warrant his, his spot in the lineup on a regular basis, especially with both struggling? And do you really go away from Bo at this point? You know, if you, if you run away from Beau right now, what messages that send to him and where does his confidence when you try to come back with him at some point down the line?
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, if you make a move like if we, if, if they make a move like we’re talking about and go to head a Hedges more, you probably that, that means you’re looking for another, you know, frontline catcher in the draft or this winter. You’re going to have to improve that position because you’re basically saying, oh, you know, we’ve lost some confidence in you and we’re going with this with the older guy and we’ll see how it works out. So, you know, it’s, it’s really going to be interesting Jo see which direction they go in with this.
Joe Noga: Yeah. And you know, don’t forget Bo Naylor is five years old. He’s a former first round pick of this club. And, and right now the, whatever catching talent and depth they have within the organization is probably a year or two or maybe more away from being major league ready. You’re talking Cooper Engel, who’s a hit first kind of guy, you know, doing very well at double guy who’s a converted catcher, not, not catcher. Wasn’t necessarily his first position that, you know, he played. They’re sort of making him a catcher in the minor leagues. And you’ve got Zach Kozart who’s still in the low minors and you know, he was a draft pick last year and you know, could be coming along at some point, but again, both of those guys are probably a year two or more away.
Paul Hoynes: Yeah. You know, so catching has been, it’s kind of been, you know, a kind of an in and out, you know, position for, for the guardians. They really, you know, they stress defense so much. We really haven’t seen an offensive minded catcher back there. You know, when was the last guy that kind of scared you offensively? Victor Martinez, maybe. I. Victor Martinez, Sandy Hallamar, Tony Pena on occasion. But there’s Carlos.
Joe Noga: Don’t forget Carlos. Santana was.
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, Santana. Yeah, Santana. I forgot about Carlos. Yeah.
Joe Noga: Yeah. Okay. You know, want to move the, the conversation along here and talk about basically one of the big headlines that’s been going around and ever since the, the controversy, the suspension, the investigation last week, we haven’t really heard much more about Luis Ortiz and Major League Baseball’s investigation into allegedly the, the gambling implications or, you know, betting, whether it was betting on baseball or something else. We don’t know yet as, as more is being revealed about the investigation. But we don’t expect to really hear anything until after the All Star break. Right.
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, Joe, the, the investigation is right now, will run through July 17, the end of the All Star break. They are investigating Luis Ortiz for influencing, I guess not to, you know, according.
Joe Noga: To our leaked sources.
Paul Hoynes: Right, yeah, according to league sources, you know, allegedly influencing prop bets, by the way he pitched on the field. And you know, Joe, if this is, if this is true, I mean, you know, he faces, you know, a penalty of up, you know, probably at the minimum of a year’s suspension to maybe a lifetime ban.
Joe Noga: Yeah, that’s, that’s the scary thing is expect that Luis Ortiz, if, if what they’re what’s out there and what’s been reported and what’s been said is, you know, come to, to be proven accurate, then you know, throwing pitches and they’re based on prop bets. And also I’ve seen video of him reacting when pitches didn’t go where he wanted them to go. That kind of thing. All this stuff is what they’re looking at. And if that’s the case, you’re talking about a possible year ban. The lifetime suspension thing is the one that, that, that sort of is looming. And you’re talking about a guy who was, you know, pitching himself into a pretty firm spot in your rotation for the next several years.
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, this is a guy that, you know, they, they were happy to get a young kind of starting pitcher with a high ceiling. He’s only 26, big strong guy, has good velocity. When they acquired him from the Pirates, Chris Antonett, two seconds after they acquired him, he said, this guy’s in the rotation. And you know Antonetti as well as I do and he does not, you know, he doesn’t go on a limb like that. So they really like this guy. They thought he was a piece for them to rebuild the rotation and he looked like it. You know, he was, he was showing improvement. You know, in his last three or four starts he was getting deeper into games. But now, Joe, I just don’t know. You know, even if he’s clear know MLB didn’t, this didn’t come out of the air. You know, they, they, they, they didn’t make this up. So what’s the trust factor when he walks back into the locker room?
Joe Noga: But yeah, that’s, that’s, that was going to be my next question to you is can the Guardians, you know, in good conscience run this guy ever back out on the mound and not think to themselves, hey, is he in this for us or is he in this for himself?
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, I mean one of the rules against gambling, one of the anti gambling rules baseball is you have to, if you are found to not be giving your best performance on the field, you know, that’s a problem. And also if, if you are approached by someone outside the organization or outside of baseball and they, you know, they, they, you’ve got to report that. If you don’t, that, that, that sets you up for a ban as well. So, you know, there’s a, this guy, you know, I, I can’t, I can’t stress enough. I think this guy’s in, in, in trouble here.
Joe Noga: Yeah, if, if he was doing it on his own, that’s a bad enough thing in its own right. If he was doing it because of some outside influence, Major League Baseball has security, a division of security. They have, you know, security guys within the team as well. There, there are avenues for you to report this kind of, that kind of thing. But if this is all sort of on him, then, you know, the, the guardians might, might have to just, you know, cut bait with this guy. It, it’s, it that would be very hard to do. But yeah, and the thing is, it’s like you could see in the locker room when you’re around, you know, very, very happy, very, you know, outgoing. I saw him interacting with Jose Ramirez in Seattle and everybody. It just, you know, he was, well, like, or he is well liked among his teammates. I, from what you can tell, that’s just got to be really tough for the guys in the, in the clubhouse and, and the guys there don’t necessarily. You know, Stephen Vogt was asked about, or was you, the reporter tried to ask Stephen Vogt at the beginning of this Detroit series his thoughts on it, and he had no comment. You know, obviously the. Nobody from the team is going to comment until the investigation comes through. So we’re just sort of a, in a wait and see sort of mode right now.
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, you know, I’ve heard from league sources, Joe, that, you know, he’s the only one they’re looking at in the Cleveland organization. And, you know, you can breathe a sigh of relief there. But, you know, who knows where this thing is going, Joe? This is, this is just the beginning here. I mean, if they’re looking at two pitches, you know, that have come under scrutiny. This guy threw, has thrown over 1500. 1500 pitches this year. So do they examine every one and, you know, align that with the betting line on each pitch? I, I don’t know.
Joe Noga: And it just, it’s a weird situation. They’re going to make an example of him if they can. I think Major League Baseball will, just because they want to make sure that the message is sent to the other players in the league. Hey, if you get caught doing something like this, these are the consequences. And so, you know, it’s not like it’s the Dodgers. And you know, the most, the most recognizable face in baseball right now is Shohei Ohtani. And you know, he had an interpreter that sort of took the fall for whatever or if that was the case, if this was a similar situation. But yeah, it’s, it’s, it’s a lot different. And we’ll, we’ll see moving forward. All right, Want to move on. Happier news. Stephen Kwan, second consecutive All Star selection that was announced yesterday around 5:30. Just, you know, he, he comes up in the, the eighth inning, gets the game, uh, the go ahead. RBI on a double. Made some, uh, outstanding plays in the field during the game yesterday. Uh, all with that, uh, sort of knowledge in the back of his mind that, hey, uh, at the end of the day, uh, I’m gonna get, you know, it’s going to be officially announced that I’m going to be the, you know, a reserve in the outfield. Should, should quant have been a starter in the outfield. Does, you know, did he deserve to start? Javi Baez played third base yesterday. Again, it just breaks my brain that, that Javi Baez is going to be the starter in the outfield. When Stephen Kwan has 30 multi hit games, 10, three hit games, he’s batting.300. He’s got a.780 OPS. This guy should be your starting left fielder.
Paul Hoynes: Yeah. You know, Joe, when fans vote, you know that’s, those are some of the things, those are some of the outcomes that happen. You know, obviously the Tigers are having a great year. They’re running away with the Central and that, that attracts fans. You know, Baez is, you know, after a couple disappointing years with the Tigers is playing reasonably well as well. So, you know, I think, you know, that plays a big, big part in it. That’s why Cleveland had five all stars last year.
Joe Noga: Stephen Kwan said that it, you know, he was asked did it mean more that his peers voted him in the players and the coaches voted him in. When last year he was voted in as a starter by fans, he said that one was. It’s kind of a tough question, but he says it really does truly mean a lot to him to get that recognition in that respect. I think that goes a long way with Stephen Kwan is getting the respect of not just the fans and the media, but the players on the field respect him and they know and we’ve seen now they respect his arm in left field. He still leads the American League with eight outfield assists. We saw him go up against the wall and make a catch yesterday in the early innings. I believe he robbed Colt Keith in the third of what would have been a double. I think the respect for him defensively is unmatched. I think the level of respect as, as a hitter as well is right up there. You hear it from Stephen Vod on a regular basis. Just Stephen Kwan fueled by respect, I think.
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, definitely, Joe. I mean, and you know, I like the fact that he said, you know, obviously he found out before the game and he, it fe like it seemed like at least the way Stephen was talking that, that, that the pressure valve was released and he, and he went out with a little extra giddy up and, and you know, had had a pretty good game. So I think he had been thinking about this. He said for, for a week or so and you know, that, that, that kind of wears on you a little bit. And finally when he got the good news, he kind of went out and just played like Stephen Kwan can play.
Joe Noga: Yeah, I think, I think that might go a long way for this entire club. Maybe they, maybe the entire club just needs a pressure valve release something along the get a Bit of good news like that and set them up to go out there and play free and easy. That’s something that Steven Vogt has been talking about basically throughout this entire 10 game losing streak is these guys just need to go out there and play their game. People are making a lot of the, you know, stick to the same routines and do the same thing over and over again because it’s going to, eventually it’s going to work that sort of approach. But I think, you know, just being yourself is probably the big messaging that Stephen Vogt has for these guys to try and snap them out of this funk.
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, good point, Joe. I mean, whatever happened to guards ball? We haven’t seen that. You know, it’s like it went on vacation or something.
Joe Noga: You know, guards ball doesn’t work if you don’t score runs.
Paul Hoynes: Yeah. And if you don’t get on base and if you don’t move the runners, if you don’t steal bases, you know, if you don’t cause chaos, the only chaos being caused right now is in the, in the Guardians one loss record.
Joe Noga: Yeah, it’s, it’s tough. And, and Stephen Vogt said after the game yesterday, the situational hitting, like you said, the Nolan Jones at bat where he’s got to move the runner over after the leadoff double in the ninth. Situational hitting, doing your, you know, 1/9th of, of, you know, whatever at the plate, it, it’s gone away and it was there all season last year it wasn’t a quarter question. Everybody was, was locked in, in those at bats last year. This year they’ve just completely fallen apart when that, when that time comes around.
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, I think, you know, they’re not even hitting 100 with runners and scoring position on this losing streak, Joe. I mean, and they’re hitting like 156 as a team. I mean it is, it’s really hard to watch right now. And that’s what happens when a team, you know, an offensively challenged team to begin with goes into a funk and all the rewards come, you know, are seen right now.
Joe Noga: All right, Hoinsey, that’s going to wrap up today’s edition of the Cleveland Baseball Talk podcast. We will check in tomorrow again with you after the opener of the series in Houston and we’ll talk to you then.
Paul Hoynes: Good deal.
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