Major League Baseball is putting Cleveland Guardians pitcher Luis Ortiz on paid leave amid a league investigation that is reportedly related to gambling infractions.
Ortiz, a 26-year-old right-hander, was scheduled to start Thursday night against the Cubs in Chicago, until MLB issued a statement saying he has been “placed on non-disciplinary paid leave through the end of the All-Star break due to an MLB investigation.” Joey Cantillo is reportedly being promoted from Triple-A Columbus to start instead.
“We will not comment further until the investigation has been completed,” the statement said.
The Guardians also issued a statement saying the team has been “notified” by MLB” about the leave, “per an agreement with the Players Association due to an ongoing investigation.”
“The Guardians are not permitted to comment further at this time and will respect the league’s confidential investigative process,” the team said.
The MLBPA did not immediately respond to a request for comment. While the statements did not specify what the probe is about, multiple reports say it is related to “gambling.”
ESPN reported the investigation relates to two individual pitches thrown by Ortiz, one during a game on June 15 and another on June 27. The first, per ESPN, is when Ortiz opened the second inning with a slider “well outside the strike zone,” and the second when he opened the third inning with a slider “ever farther outside the strike zone.”
IC360—which monitors potentially illicit gambling activity—flagged the pitches for sportsbook operators in Ohio, New York, and New Jersey, ESPN said. Some sportsbooks offer so-called microbets on events like the outcome of the first pitch of an inning. According to ESPN, there was unusual betting activity on those two pitches.
IC360 did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Issues related to players being involved in sports betting has become a growing trend of late.
NBA free agent Malik Beasley, 28, is reportedly under federal investigation over betting allegations related to wagers made on games during the 2023-24 season, when he was with the Bucks, and “prop” bets—which are bets not tied to the outcome of a game, but instead something else, such as how many three pointers a payer will hit in a given game. Beasley was the third NBA player to face gambling-related accusations in under two years, with the other two being Terry Rozier and Jontay Porter. Beasley and Rozier have not been charged with any crime or penalized by the league at this point, while Porter was banned from the NBA for life last April.
MLB has also had its issues with sports betting. Last June, the league announced that an internal investigation resulted in then-San Diego Padres infielder Tucupita Marcano being banned for life, while then-Oakland Athletics’ pitcher Michael Kelly and three minor leaguers received one-year bans.
In 2023, five NFL players were suspended for violating the league’s gambling policy. Before that, Falcons wide receiver Calvin Ridley was suspended for the entire 2022 season after being caught betting on games.
In October 2023, the NHL suspended Senators player Shane Pinto for about half the season due to violations of the league’s sports betting rules.
It’s not only the players getting into trouble. Last year Ippei Mizuhara, the former interpreter of Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani, was found to have stolen more than $16 million from Ohtani to fund his gambling addiction. Mizuhara pled guilty to bank and tax fraud last June, and in February was sentenced to 57 months in prison. Also in February, MLB fired umpire Pat Hoberg for sharing betting accounts with a friend who bet actively on the sport.
All these issues have come after the 2018 U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), which had effectively prohibited sports betting outside Nevada and a handful of states with sports lotteries.
