The MLB is investigating Cleveland Guardians pitcher Luis Ortiz for violating sports betting rules, according to ESPN.
Ortiz was placed on non-disciplinary paid leave on Thursday. ESPN insider Jeff Passan later confirmed the leave is for a sports betting investigation.
Ortiz is on leave through at least July 17. According to Passan, the leave was negotiated between the MLB and the players association.
The starting pitcher is the second professional athlete linked to gambling violations this summer. NBA sharpshooter Malik Beasley is under federal investigation concerning betting on the league.
Investigation based on two pitches
IC360 sent two alerts in June to sportsbooks concerning Ortiz, according to ESPN. Both were microbets on the first pitch of an inning.
Both alerts flagged bets in Ohio, New York and New Jersey.
The first, sent June 15, came on the first pitch of the bottom of the second inning to be a ball or hit batter. Ortiz’s pitch was a slider “well outside the strike zone,” according to sources that reviewed the report.
The second pitch on June 27, the first pitch on the top of the third, was a slider “even farther outside the strike zone” on the same type of bet, according to ESPN.
MLB betting cases
Unfortunately for the MLB, it has faced some high-profile cases surrounding betting violations in recent years.
Last year, the league banned Tucupita Marcano for life after he bet 231 times on MLB-related bets. That includes betting 25 times on his then-team, Pittsburgh. He was on injured reserve at the time, and there is no evidence the bets influenced the games, according to the league.
The league also fired umpire Pat Hoberg in February 2025. Hoberg unsuccessfully appealed his violations of the league’s betting policy announced in June 2024.
The most high-profile of those investigations, though, concerned All-Star Shohei Ohtani’s former interpreter Ippei Mizuhara. Mizuhara pled guilty to bank fraud and filing a false tax return after betting millions of Ohtani’s money.
