MLB has extended the suspension of Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz indefinitely as the league continues its sports betting investigation.
The team announced the news on Sunday, saying that the league and the MLBPA had agreed to extend Clase and Ortiz’s paid leave “until further notice.” Clase and Ortiz’s original non-disciplinary suspension was set to end on Sunday.
Ortiz was placed on leave on July 3 after MLB opened an investigation into sport betting in the league. Two of Ortiz’s pitches in June — both balls thrown well outside the zone — were reportedly flagged as suspicious.
Ortiz’s leave was originally supposed to end on July 17, but it was extended to match Clase’s, with both originally supposed to go off leave on Aug. 31. Clase was placed on leave on July 28, though his connection to the gambling investigation is unknown.
In connection with the incidents, Ohio regulators are reportedly drafting a bill to ban certain types of micro-bets at the request of Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine. Both of Ortiz’s suspicious pitches took place at the very beginning of an inning; in both incidents, large amounts were placed on the outcome of the first pitch of the inning.
“The harm to athletes and the integrity of the game is clear, and the benefits are not worth the harm. The prop betting experiment in this country has failed badly,” DeWine said in a news release on July 31.
MLB has also been discussing the issue of microbets: During the MLB All-Star break, league commissioner Rob Manfred told reporters he considers some bets “unnecessary and particularly vulnerable,” via ESPN’s David Purdum.
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