Cleveland Guardians pitchers Jose Ortiz and Emmanuel Clase have been barred by LIDOM, the Dominican Republic’s winter league, from being added to the active roster by the Estrellas Orientales while Major League Baseball continues its gambling investigation into the two pitchers.
Major League Baseball does not have a rule prohibiting players on paid administrative leave, which is where Clase and Ortiz were placed in July, from playing winter ball, signaling that this decision was made by LIDOM, ESPN Deportes’ Enrique Rojas reported Tuesday. Both pitchers were in camp with the Estrellas Orientales in San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic, during the preseason.
The LIDOM’s regular season begins tonight, with the Estrellas hosting the Toros del Este at 7:30 p.m. EDT.
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Clase previously pitched in LIDOM for the Estrellas in 2019-20 and 2020-21, appearing in seven games in 2019-20 and one game the next season, posting a 1.13 ERA in eight innings. The two stints with the Estrellas were sandwiched around Clase’s 2020 season, which was lost to an 80-game suspension for performance enhancing drugs after the hard-throwing righty tested positive for Boldenone, an anabolic steroid.
Clase and Jose Ortiz were placed on non-disciplinary paid leave amid an investigation into proposition bets made on individual pitches thrown by Ortiz in the second inning of a June 15 start against the Seattle Mariners and the third inning of a June 27 start against the St. Louis Cardinals, according to multiple media reports. In both instances, unusual betting activity wagering that Ortiz would throw a ball or hit a batter with the first pitch of each of the innings in question. In both instances, Ortiz threw sliders that were well out of the strike zone.
Ortiz was placed on leave on July 3, while Clase was placed on leave on July 28. Their leave was extended on Aug. 31, and thus neither pitcher appeared in the postseason for Cleveland.
Now neither pitcher will appear in winter ball with the Estrellas, either.
Photo: Cleveland Guardians pitcher Emmanuel Clase during a baseball game against the San Francisco Giants in San Francisco, June 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, file)
