TLDR
- Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz are on trial over alleged pitch-fixing.
- A sportsbook CEO says betting patterns reveal more than the pitches themselves.
- Bettors allegedly won at least $400,000 on Clase’s pitches and $60,000 on Ortiz’s.
- MLB capped single-pitch bets at $200 and barred them from parlays in November 2025.
- Jurors are weighing disputed messages, including one the defense says was about cockfighting.
Sportsbooks can flag a suspicious bet, but they often cannot tell if a pitch was missed on purpose. That gap is now in focus as Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz stand trial in a federal pitch-fixing case.
Prosecutors say the two men worked with bettors to rig single pitches between 2023 and 2025. Both have pleaded not guilty.
Adam Bjorn, CEO of Plannatech Group, has set odds for more than 30 years. He told Gambling Insider that sportsbooks can spot odd betting, but said “‘reliably’ is a stretch.”
The Money Trail Matters More Than the Pitch
Bjorn said a bounced slider on the first pitch “happens every night,” so the throw itself reveals little. Traders instead look at who is betting, when, how much, and whether it fits the account’s history.
He pointed to trial testimony about 160 geolocation pings from an account at the pitcher’s house. “That’s the kind of thing you find when you follow the accounts,” Bjorn said.
According to Bjorn, alerts flagged two Ortiz pitches quickly. The alleged betting on Clase’s pitches went on much longer before anyone connected the pattern.
Prosecutors allege Clase told bettors which pitches he would throw outside the strike zone or below certain speeds. Ortiz allegedly joined in June 2025.
Bettors allegedly won at least $400,000 on Clase’s pitches and $60,000 on Ortiz’s. The indictment describes these as betting winnings, not payments to the players.
In one case, bettors placed about $18,000 on Ortiz’s first pitch of the third inning being a ball. The pitch came in a June 27, 2025, game against the St. Louis Cardinals, and the payout was about $37,000.
Limits on Pitch Bets Lower the Payout, Not the Risk
The indictment describes bets on balls, hit-by-pitches and speed thresholds such as 94.95 mph. Some of these bets were allegedly combined into parlays to raise the potential winnings.
In November 2025, MLB worked with its authorized sportsbook partners to cap individual-pitch wagers at $200. Those bets can no longer be used in parlays, and the partners covered more than 98% of the US betting market at the time.
The rules shrink the payout from one rigged pitch, but the markets remain open. There is also no public figure showing how many manipulated pitch bets sportsbooks catch.
Plannatech does not offer pitch-level props. Bjorn compared the risk to cricket’s spot-fixing problems from 20 to 25 years ago, calling a pitch “baseball’s version of a no-ball.”
He said he has no issue with state bans on these markets. However, he warned that grey-market books and prediction markets “will just start listing the same markets.”
The defense has questioned the case. Clase’s attorney, Michael Bronson, said Enoc Pena exaggerated his access to the pitcher and pointed to more than 200 losing bets on Clase’s pitches. Ortiz’s lawyer, Samuel Landes, asked why his client would risk his career for an alleged $5,000 payment.
On November 1, US District Judge Kiyo Matsumoto allowed prosecutors to use English translations of Spanish-language texts, videos and voice memos. The defense can challenge disputed translations through expert testimony.
On November 6, jurors saw a message attributed to Clase telling Pena to play the “third chicken after killing the first two.” A cooperating witness said it referred to pitch bets, while the defense argues it was about cockfighting.
