Cleveland Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase on Monday was placed on non-disciplinary leave as part of Major League Baseball’s ongoing investigation into suspicious sports betting patterns.
Clase is the second Guardians pitcher to be part of an investigation over the last month. The other, starting pitcher Luis Ortiz, was placed on non-disciplinary leave on July 3.
The Guardians said they do not expect any other members of their roster or coaching staff to be added to the investigation.
Irregular activity
The Guardians revealed shortly after noon on Monday that they had been notified of MLB’s investigation and had placed Clase on paid leave.
“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.”
Clase became a subject of interest following a June 27 alert from Integrity Compliance 360 (IC360), a betting integrity firm that watches for abnormal and peculiar betting trends.
On that day, IC360 alerted sportsbooks to an unexpected increase in action involving the result of Ortiz’s first pitch in the top of the third inning against the St. Louis Cardinals. That was less than two weeks after the firm noticed a similarly unexpected increase in betting volume on the result of Ortiz’s first pitch in the bottom of the second inning during a June 15 matchup with the Seattle Mariners.
Both incidents were triggered by large bets from accounts in New York, New Jersey, and Ohio. The bettors predicted that Clase’s pitch would be a ball or would hit the batter.
Both of the corresponding pitches missed the strike zone by a wide margin.
Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said before Monday night's 8-6 loss to the Colorado Rockies that he was frustrated.
“I'm not happy; this stinks. It's a different part of our game now because it's legal. Two of our guys are being investigated and it hurts. It's an unfortunate situation.”
Eerily similar to Ortiz
Clase, a three-time All-Star from 2022-24 and two-time Mariano Rivera Award winner, was a popular trade candidate ahead of Thursday’s deadline. His leave, which will extend until at least Aug. 31, will wipe him off the board of available candidates for teams to acquire.
The micro-betting nature of Clase’s investigation mirrors that of Ortiz, who was also linked to suspicious bets involving the outcome of his first pitch in particular innings.
In Ortiz’s case, IC360 flagged suspicious wagers in the same three states as it did for Clase – New York, New Jersey, and Ohio – from at least five different sportsbooks.
Micro-betting – or wagering on small, rapid events within a larger event – has been subjected to recent scrutiny for its addictive nature and potential for nefarious interferences. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said at the All-Star Game that while he supported legal sports betting, he wasn’t sure that micro-betting was a positive inclusion for sportsbooks.
“There are certain types of bets that strike me as unnecessary and particularly vulnerable. I know there was a lot of sports betting, tons of it that went on illegally, and we had no idea, no idea what threats there were to the integrity of the play because it was all not transparent.
“I firmly believe that the transparency and monitoring that we have in place now, as a result of the legalization and the partnerships that we've made, puts us in a better position to protect baseball than we were in before.”
Clase, 27, is tied for fourth in saves at 24. He has a 3.23 ERA and 1.23 WHIP, both of which are the highest of his career.