For the second time in less than a month, a high-profile pitcher for the Cleveland Guardians was placed on non-disciplinary leave in relation to a sports betting probe.
The Guardians said Monday that Emmanuel Clase, the Guardians’ All-Star closer who is one of baseball’s best relievers, was placed on leave as part of Major League Baseball’s ongoing gambling-related investigation.
“We have been informed that no additional players or Club personnel are expected to be impacted,” the team statement read. “The Guardians are not permitted to comment further at this time and will respect the league’s confidential investigative process as we continue to fully cooperate.”
On July 3, Cleveland pitcher Luis Ortiz was placed on indefinite leave just hours before he was supposed to take the mound as the Guardians starting pitcher for their game against the Chicago Cubs. MLB said in a statement that Ortiz was being put on “non-disciplinary leave through the end of the All-Star break” for the investigation.
Ortiz has yet to pitch since being placed on leave. Multiple reports indicated that his suspension was due to a gambling probe.
Clase is a three-time All-Star and has been one of the most feared closers in the game in recent seasons. While his production was down slightly this year, he still has 24 saves so far this season. He has a career 1.88 ERA and 182 career saves.
“Per an agreement with the MLBPA, Cleveland Guardians pitcher Emmanuel Clase has been placed on non-disciplinary paid leave through games on August 31st while MLB continues its sports betting investigation,” a statement from MLB read. “We will not comment further until the investigation has been completed.”
MLB has had to navigate turbulent waters over gambling in recent years.
The sport was rocked by the high-profile scandal involving megastar Shohei Ohtani and his interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara. Mizuhara was sentenced to more than four years in prison earlier this year following revelations at the beginning of the 2024 season that he had stolen nearly $17 million from Ohtani to fuel a gambling addiction. Ohtani, the Japanese two-way player breaking new ground in the league, denied ever taking part in any gambling activities.
Later in the 2024 season, the league banned San Diego Padres shortstop Tucupita Marcano for life after MLB determined he had been gambling on baseball. According to the investigation, Marcano placed 387 baseball bets, including 231 MLB-related ones, over two periods in 2022 and 2023 while he was a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates and while he was on the injured list. He gambled more than $150,000 on baseball, with $87,319 of that on MLB-related bets.
The MLB investigation found that 25 of those bets included Pirates games while Marcano was assigned to the Major League club. The MLB probe found that “almost all of Marcano’s Pirates bets were on which club (the Pirates or their opponent) would win the game or whether there would be more or less than a certain number of runs scored in the game.”
Earlier this year, the league fired Pat Hoberg, one of the sport’s up-and-coming young umpires, for sharing gambling accounts with a friend who had bet on baseball. The league found no evidence that Hoberg himself had bet on baseball, but the report stated that messages regarding the MLB’s investigation had been deleted and that the league found dismissal to be warranted.
