Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz, two pitchers for the Cleveland Guardians baseball team, have pleaded not guilty to charges of ‘pitch-rigging.’
At a Brooklyn federal court, the pair, plus a third conspirator alleged to have acted as a middleman, entered their pleas on Wednesday, February 18.
A trial, originally scheduled for May 5, is reportedly likely to now be delayed until October.
Judge Kiyo Matsumoto is quoted as saying: “The reality is, I think we’re going to be adjourning the trial.”
This delay is partially related to a request from Luis Ortiz’s attorney.
Clase is accused of throwing suspicious pitches in as many as 48 games over a two-year period, while the suspicious activity from Ortiz was only identified in two pitches across 12 days.
The second man’s lawyers say he was not aware of the conspiratorial implications of his pitches, thinking that Clase was asking him to do certain things for sporting reasons.
Due to the difference in scale between Clase and Ortiz’s alleged wrongdoing, Ortiz’s attorney has asked that the cases be split.
Both men are currently free on bail and all the lawyers for the defense have insisted that neither ever colluded with gamblers.
Charges were first leveled at the players in November 2025 when they were accused of taking multiple thousands of dollars in kickbacks to aid two gamblers from the Dominican Republic to win $460,000.
The prosecution suggests that Clase has been involved in the scheme since 2023, while Ortiz became a part of it in June 2025.
The Cleveland Guardians and Major League Baseball are cooperating with the investigations.
Emmanuel Clase is a three-time MLB All-Star
