Clase and Ortiz defense says messages were about roosters, not baseball
Luis Ortiz and Emmanuel Clase, both Major League Baseball (MLB) pitchers for the Cleveland Guardians, have reaffirmed that messages presented as evidence referred to rooster betting, not baseball gambling.
Clase and Ortiz are defendants in a federal illegal gambling case that has shaken the MLB and caused gambling lines on pitching to be revised as a result.
Prosecutors have built a case based on intercepted correspondence, including references to animals, logistics, and routine matters, which they allege are not literal but served as code words to disguise illegal sports betting activity.
Defence insists that intercepted messages are about animals
As we reported, the court proceedings for both men have begun in a case alleging that both participated in a protracted baseball betting scheme.
Two Current Major League Baseball Players Charged in Sports Betting and Money Laundering Conspiracy https://t.co/uHE2ohObCc (Announced with @NewYorkFBI)
— US Attorney EDNY (@EDNYnews) November 9, 2025
The charges laid out for the icons include wire fraud conspiracy, Honest services wire fraud conspiracy, Conspiracy to influence sporting contests by bribery, and Money laundering conspiracy.
As part of the initial round of proceedings, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York heard the evidence presented, according to the pitcher’s defence related to rooster breeding, rather than pitch-speed betting.
Defence is adamant that messages are misrepresented
Both men hail from the Dominican Republic, where rooster breeding and fighting are, in part, legal, which has formed a pillar of their defence case.
The defence filing reviewed by ReadWrite identifies an individual only as “Bettor 1,” the individual alleged to have had substantive contact with Clase, whose sworn testimony denies any baseball gambling conspiracy.
“Emmanuel never provided me with any form of information on the pitches he intended to throw in a game to allow me to win a bet,” Bettor 1 stated.
They argue that the prosecution’s allegations that both men communicated in “coded language” is a misrepresentation.
The defence also highlighted that the defendants had correspondence about betting, but it concerned rooster breeding and fighting, stating, “They (those in the communications) used their words to mean exactly what those words said.”
The affidavit read, Bettor 1 “did have communications with Mr. Clase regarding gambling on rooster fights in the Dominican Republic.”
Both players remain on non-disciplinary paid leave from MLB as the criminal case proceeds, and, as a result of the case, pitch betting in the US has undergone a regulatory change.
MLB and its major sportsbook partners just announced new limits on pitch-level markets: pic.twitter.com/nrNdk4LXJ5
— Gary Phillips (@GaryHPhillips) November 10, 2025
Jury selection is scheduled to begin in May 2026, when a court will ultimately determine whether the government’s interpretation of the alleged coded language can stand the rigours of the scrutiny required move forward.
Featured image: ESPN via YouTube / Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY 2.0
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