In a sign of a growing fissure between two Cleveland Guardians pitchers facing charges tied to a pitch-rigging scheme that benefited gamblers, a lawyer for Luis Ortiz said his client was among those duped by teammate and co-defendant Emmanuel Clase.
In a legal filing unsealed on Monday, in which Ortiz’s representatives asked a federal judge to sever the cases so they could proceed separately, attorney Christos N. Georgalis emphasized the difference in scale between the two pitchers’ alleged participation in the operation. Georgalis characterized Ortiz as “a victim of Clase’s scheme, rather than a knowing and willing participant.”
Indeed, federal prosecutors have indicated that Ortiz and Clase could face a wide disparity in the number of pitches they are each accused of rigging for bettors, with Clase’s attorney saying in a filing that he “has already identified at least or in excess of 250 pitches in which bets were placed.”
Though the November indictment that brought four federal charges against Clase described nine suspicious pitches he allegedly threw as part of the gambling scheme, prosecutors have opened the possibility that there are more. Attorneys for the government told a federal judge last month they still may identify other pitches and that their investigation is still ongoing.
By contrast, Ortiz was accused of rigging two pitches in the indictment and prosecutors said that number has not changed.
Georgalis also cited a potential conflict of interest as justification for severing the cases. The filings detail Clase’s attorneys interviewing witnesses who denied the existence of a betting scheme, but at least one of whom is expected to testify otherwise, according to prosecutors. Even after he was made aware by a judge that the potential conflict of interest could limit how his attorneys question the witnesses they had previously interviewed, Clase elected to stay with his lawyers.
Ortiz’s attorney raised the possibility of serving as a “second prosecutor” and calling Clase’s lawyers to the stand in defense of his client — which he said is an option only if the cases are separated.
The judge overseeing the case, Kiyo A. Matsumoto, will decide whether to grant Ortiz’s plea to sever his case from Clase. Georgalis did not respond to an email for comment.
One of Ortiz’s “likely defenses,” Georgalis wrote in the filing, is that Clase supplied Ortiz’s pitching strategy to the bettors without his teammate’s knowledge. That approach, Georgalis wrote, “is mutually antagonistic to Mr. Clase’s claim of innocence.”
The scheme involved pitchers allegedly predetermining the results of prop bets, as outlined in a 23-page indictment unsealed in November. According to that filing, the ploy netted gamblers winnings of $460,000.
Clase and Ortiz are facing four counts of conspiracy in Brooklyn federal court. Both pitchers pleaded not guilty. The trial is set for May 4, but Ortiz’s camp is pushing for extra time to prepare while Clase is hoping for a speedy outcome. Ortiz and Clase were charged with wire fraud conspiracy, honest services wire fraud conspiracy, conspiracy to influence sporting contests by bribery and money laundering conspiracy.
Martin S. Bell, an attorney at Simpson Thatcher and a former federal prosecutor, said there are several reasons why Ortiz could want to sever his case from Clase. Doing so might help Ortiz avoid being prejudiced by the evidence against Clase. The move would also give Ortiz a chance to litigate his case after the government presents their case against Clase at trial, which could be an advantage.
But Bell also noted that, while Ortiz and Clase could still cooperate together in their defense, Ortiz shifting blame to his former teammate also indicates that the parties may be at odds.
“It’s an interesting posture to be in where you’ve got defendants who are still, in a very important way, sort of on the same boat, but for purposes of this motion, and very possibly for purposes of the practical conduct of a trial, now find themselves, at the very least, on opposite ends with that same boat,” Bell said. “And the question is going to be, is is that boat shaped in such a way that the judge is going to say, ‘Hey, an actual unwarranted injustice would result for making them both go through the trial in that same boat?’”
Clase’s involvement allegedly dates to May 2023, whereas Ortiz is said to have joined in June 2025. Major League Baseball, following an alert from the Ohio Casino Control Commission, placed Ortiz on non-disciplinary paid leave on July 3. Clase pitched for another three weeks before MLB sidelined him as well.
Clase allegedly maintained years worth of dialogue with an unidentified bettor, another point Ortiz’s camp raised in the filings. In one instance, just minutes before he entered a game to pitch, Clase allegedly held a two-minute phone call with the bettor, who was sitting in the stands at Progressive Field.
Court documents detail that the government had gathered more than 60,000 audio messages, 19,000 PDFs, 8,000 videos and 8,000 photos from the phones of Clase and the unidentified bettor. The prosecution uncovered no direct communication between Ortiz and the bettors. The indictment alleged that Clase was paid to coordinate Ortiz’s involvement in the scheme.
In an affidavit filed last month, the bettor claimed that communication with Clase pertained solely to rooster fighting, not baseball. Instead, the bettor said he relied on his experience as a former baseball player and on ChatGPT to achieve successful betting patterns.
“At times, I watched these legal rooster fights on Facebook and placed bets on which rooster would win,” the bettor said. “At times, I paid money to people associated with Emmanuel in the Dominican Republic who run his rooster operation, either to cover bets or expenses related to the roosters. This money was only related to rooster fighting and had nothing to do with gambling on baseball.”
On Monday, one day before Guardians pitchers and catchers reported to spring training, the judge cleared Clase to travel to Arizona “to facilitate meetings with his agent,” Kelvin Nova, and to “attend training sessions with professional-level trainers at suitable facilities.” Nova is also a suretor for Clase on his $600,000 bond.
Clase will not, however, train at the Guardians’ complex in Goodyear, Ariz. MLB notified the Guardians last weekend that Clase and Ortiz will remain on leave and are not permitted to visit MLB facilities, according to an industry source who was not authorized to speak publicly on the subject.
Clase signed a long-term extension with Cleveland before the 2022 season, which guaranteed him $20 million, with a chance to earn up to $18 million more through a pair of team options. The Guardians are still waiting to learn whether they’ll be on the hook for his 2026 salary of $6.4 million. They were required to pay both Clase and Ortiz through the end of the 2025 season.
An industry source told The Athletic in November that the league preferred to impose discipline on the two pitchers by the start of spring training, but the Guardians have yet to receive any indication that a ruling was imminent. As it pertains to the roster, the team has been planning since the beginning of the offseason as if neither would be around in 2026.
As the pitch-rigging scheme allegedly unfolded behind the scenes and on the mound, Clase emerged as the preeminent closer in baseball, with a 1.84 ERA across five seasons in Cleveland. That includes a 0.61 ERA in 2024, which earned him a third-place finish in the American League Cy Young Award voting. The nine instances of alleged pitch-fixing outlined in the indictment all took place in 2023 or 2025.