Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz have been indicted on charges related to gambling shenanigans, according to Jeff Passan, with Ortiz having been arrested this morning. Clase has not been apprehended.
The two Cleveland Guardians pitchers have been on administrative leave since this summer due to an ongoing investigation into irregularities regarding bets on individual pitches each of them threw. The allegations are that Clase and Ortiz arranged to purposely throw balls at certain times, with their co-conspirators betting heavily on the result of the pitch. Clase, in particular, came under suspicion for throwing the first pitch in a couple of appearances he made well wide of the strike zone at a time when there was unusually high betting activity on that particular pitch.
Per Passan, the indictment alleges Ortiz and Clase received $5000 apiece for Ortiz throwing an intentional ball on June 15, and the pair received $7000 apiece for a similar scheme on June 27. The small amount of money involved for the pair, relative to their salaries, the risk of getting caught, and the punishments they would receive if caught, makes this all the more remarkable.
The widespread adoption of prop bets, including betting on individual plays or events, has made for more opportunities for players to seek to illegal make money through altering their own individual performances — a much easier task than the traditional means of rigging games, which required the team as a whole to underperform enough to not cover the spread. This was part of what led to the recent arrest of NBA player Terry Rozier, who was charged in connection with prop bets made in a March, 2023, game.
One would expect Clase and Ortiz to end up banned from baseball for life if these charges are substantiated.