As the Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz federal trial continued on Friday in New York, a government witness added a very interesting wrinkle to the case during his testimony.
Luis de Aza Baez admitted to placing dozens of bets, and winning thousands, by wagering on the speed Clase’s pitch came across home plate during the 2023 MLB season. He said he placed the bets “because I had inside information,” per ESPN.
Clase has been accused of rigging 18 pitches across three seasons in conspiracy with bettors.
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However, de Aza Baez also noted that when he asked about Clase’s pitches the following season, there was a hiccup.
“What was going on with [Shohei] Ohtani, there was no more information like that,” de Aza Baez said in his testimony.
In March 2024, Ohtani wasn’t facing accusations like Clase and Ortiz, but he faced scrutiny after millions had been sent from his bank account to an illegal bookmaking operation. But Ippei Mizuhara, his longtime interpreter, pleaded guilty to stealing almost $17 million from Ohtani to pay off gambling debts.
Mizuhara is currently in prison, while Ohtani was cleared of any wrongdoing in the case.
De Aza Baez was working as an Uber driver at the time, and he had a group chat called “Uber Inc.,” where Enoc Pena, an associate of Clase, would send tips in 2023, according to his testimony. Pena was the one who started the chat with the men who worked for Uber in the Massachusetts area.
Prosecutors showed a text message screenshot Clase allegedly had sent to Pena on Sept. 30, 2023, when the Cleveland Guardians were set to face the Detroit Tigers. Clase and Pena spoke about “killing the first two chickens,” which was code to bet on a pitch against the third batter, granted Clase came in the game and got the first two outs. He never entered the contest in the 8-0 Detroit victory.
Clase’s defense team argued the text message was misconstrued, as roosters and chickens in such talks with Pena often refer to cockfighting, which is legal in his native Dominican Republic.
De Aza Baez and Clase became friends, and were seen in a video at a relative’s house playing dominoes on a Boston Red Sox-logoed table. However, de Aza Baez testified he never received direct information about pitches from Clase – only Pena.
De Aza Baez said he “almost always” won when Pena dropped the tip to him, and though there were no official cuts to be handed out, he gave him some money after winning the bet.
Clase and Ortiz, also an ex-Guardians pitcher have pleaded not guilty to conspiracy of wire and honor services fraud, sports bribery and money laundering.
“Our defense is the same today as it was in opening: This is a case about big talk and small bets,” Vásquez’s attorney Todd Spodek told ESPN following the hearing on Friday. “We’re confident leaving that judgment to the jury.”
De Aza Baez agreed with the federal government to forfeit $69,000 won on bets involving Clase, saying he would “tell the truth” in exchange for dropping the wire fraud charge in the case.
Prior to De Aza Baez’s testimony, former Guardians catcher Bo Naylor, who was behind the plate for the allegedly rigged pitches by both Clase and Ortiz, testified on Thursday in New York.
He said he appeared to call one of the allegedly rigged pitches that were shown to him on a screen inside the courtroom, saying that a slider away to St. Louis Cardinals’ Pedro Pages was a weakness. He also noted he was unaware bettors could even wager on specific pitches.
Attorneys elicited from Naylor that he had frequently seen Clase on his cellular phone in the locker room. Prosecutors have alleged that Clase sometimes broke Major League Baseball rules by communicating with gamblers during games.
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Bettors allegedly won $400,000 from betting platforms on pitches thrown by Clase between 2023 and 2025. Ortiz allegedly joined the scheme in June 2025.
Clase was one of baseball’s best closers, pitching to a 1.21 ERA in his 2024 season, finishing third in AL Cy Young voting. But his ERA ballooned to 3.80 in 2025 by the time he was investigated.
