Major League Baseball is investigating Cleveland Guardians pitcher Luis Ortiz over irregularities connected to sports betting, ESPN reported last week.
Ortiz, 26, was placed on non-disciplinary leave last week and will be out through at least July 17. MLB insider Jeff Passan reported that the absence period was negotiated by the league and the players’ association.
The young pitcher is 4-9 with a 4.37 ERA and 1.38 WHIP so far this season. This is his first season with the Guardians after he’d played three with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Pitches probed
Integrity Compliance 360, a sports betting compliancy and integrity company, notified regulators of two issues regarding at least one major sportsbook in relation to Ortiz’s prop betting lines. Suspicious activity was flagged in Ohio, New York, and New Jersey, three of the country’s top-five sports betting markets.
The first alarm bell sounded on June 15. An unusual amount of activity was reported in the micro-betting market relating to Ortiz’s first pitch of the second inning being a ball or hitting the batter.
His first pitch in the bottom of the frame was a slider that missed the strike zone by a wide margin.
The second incident occurred less than two weeks later on June 27. Ortiz’s first pitch of the third inning was a slider that missed by an even wider margin, which corresponded with increased activity in the same market.
Ortiz has not appeared in an MLB game since then. He finished those two games allowing 11 hits and 10 earned runs in 13 innings, giving him an ERA of 6.92.
In a lone appearance between the two flagged games, Ortiz went six innings and gave up two hits and no earned runs against the Oakland Athletics.
Ortiz is due to make $782,600 this season and has earned $2.2 million during his MLB career. The league has the option to extend his suspension if a resolution is not reached by July 17.
Gambling scandals rock sports
MLB players are not allowed to bet on baseball at any level.
The massive increase in sports betting’s prominence has created a variety of issues for regulators in the MLB and other professional leagues.
MLB just last year banned former infielder Tucupita Marcano for life after it was revealed that he bet on his own team.
Marcano, who was 24 at the time, reportedly placed 231 bets on MLB games and 387 baseball bets totaling more than $150,000 from Oct. 16, 2022, to Nov. 1, 2023. Twenty-five of his bets involved the Pirates, though he lost every parlay in which they were included.
It was also revealed last year that Los Angeles Dodgers megastar Shohei Ohtani was defrauded of nearly $20 million by his former interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, who posed as Ohtani during phone calls with a bank and initiated transfers to his personal account.
The NBA is also currently dealing with an investigation into free agent sharpshooter Malik Beasley, who was named as a suspect in a suspicious betting activity just before he was set to receive a three-year, $42 million contract extension from the Detroit Pistons.
The suspension of Ortiz isn’t the only problem the Guardians are facing. They’re currently on a 10-game losing streak, which dropped them from a winning record to 40-48. They only scored three runs in their last four games and have fallen from second to fourth in the AL Central.
The Guardians’ next game will be on the road against the Houston Astros on Monday evening.