NEW YORK (AP) — The federal fraud trial of Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz set for spring training likely will not start in May, a judge said as the players entered not guilty pleas in Brooklyn federal court. Judge Kiyo A. Matsumoto left a May 4 trial date in place for now but said Wednesday she will probably move the case to October in the coming weeks.
Clase and Ortiz, who spoke Spanish, pleaded not guilty through a translator to a rewritten indictment unsealed Friday. The case centers on prosecutors’ allegation that the pitchers colluded with sports bettors to rig bets and betray “America’s pastime,” with the schedule shaped to coincide with the start of baseball’s spring training.
According to the charging documents described by prosecutors, the first charges came in November, when the men were accused of accepting several thousand dollars in payoffs to help two gamblers from their native Dominican Republic win at least $460,000 by placing more than 100 in-game prop bets and parlays on the speed and outcome of certain pitches. The indictment also alleges wire fraud conspiracy and conspiracy to influence sporting contests.
Prosecutors said the superseding indictment released Friday did not add new charges, but it brought in additional allegations tied to how Clase allegedly communicated about which pitches to throw. The rewritten indictment added that Clase used code words such as “rooster” and “chicken” in communications about pitches to be thrown, and it pointed to an alleged message exchange before a game against the Cincinnati Reds on May 18, 2025.
The document said that prior to that May 18, 2025 game, Clase received a message to “throw a rock at the first rooster in today’s fight,” and that he responded, “Yes, of course, that’s an easy toss to that rooster.” The indictment alleges that even though Clase was supposed to enter the game to carry out that plan, he never entered and could not fulfill the plan to throw outside the strike zone to the first batter he faced. It also said that a day earlier, he used his cellphone during a game against the Reds to signal to gamblers that a pitch would be outside the strike zone, enabling them to win about $27,000.
Clase, a three-time All-Star and former Guardians closer, and Ortiz, a starter, have been on non-disciplinary paid leave since July. Their teammates were just beginning training camp for the new season, and the team’s home opener is April 3.
Prosecutors say Clase’s scheme started in 2023 with information about his pitches but that he did not seek payoffs until last year. Prosecutors also said Ortiz joined the scheme last June. Both men left the courthouse separately after Wednesday’s hearing and did not comment.
Lawyers for both pitchers, according to the court record described by the judge’s proceedings, have insisted their clients never colluded with gamblers. The attorneys for Ortiz asked that he be tried separately, arguing in court papers that if Clase passed along Ortiz’s pitching strategy to bettors, he did so without Ortiz’s knowledge.
The lawyers also said they might present a defense that would cast Ortiz “as a victim of Mr. Clase’s scheme, rather than a knowing and willing participant,” and they cited what they said is a narrower set of pitches that drew scrutiny over a 12-day span for Ortiz compared with the broader range of pitches prosecutors allege involving Clase since 2023. In arguments cited in the record, attorneys for Ortiz said Clase may have abused his relationship with Ortiz as friends and teammates by convincing him to throw certain pitches “ostensibly for baseball reasons” as far as Ortiz was aware.
Prosecutors said the superseding indictment charged a third individual as a middleman between bettors and Clase, and that person pleaded not guilty Wednesday. The rewritten indictment named the pitchers and the additional participant, as MLB and the Guardians continue to cooperate with the investigation, according to statements described in the case coverage.
The Associated Press reported that MLB said it contacted federal law enforcement when it began investigating unusual betting activity.