Barred from pitching for LIDOM’s Estrellas Orientales by the league while Major League Baseball continues to investigation gambling allegations, Emmanuel Clase was going to pitch for the Tiburones de La Guaira in Venezuela’s Liga Venezolana de Beisbol Profesional.
The key word there is “was.” The same day that Clase and Guardians teammate Jose Ortiz sued LIDOM in a Dominican court alleging that preemptively barring the pitchers goes against the Dominican constitution, the Guardians blocked Clase from pitching in Venezuela this winter according to a report from The Athletic’s Evan Drellich.
Generally, a player under contract to Major League Baseball can’t be blocked from playing in his native country under the Winter League Agreement. The Guardians did not block Clase from pitching for the Estrellas Orientales, who play in his hometown of San Pedro de Macoris, but LIDOM, the country’s winter professional league, blocked Clase and Ortiz from pitching for the Estrellas while MLB continues its investigation.
Now, the Guardians have blocked Clase from pitching for the Tiburones while he remains under investigation, which they can do under the Winter League Agreement because Clase is Dominican, Drellich reported late Wednesday.
Clase and Ortiz have been on paid administrative leave from the Guardians since July, when MLB began investigating a report from the Ohio Casino Control Commission regarding suspicious wagers relating to two pitches thrown by Ortiz, one 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, bettors wagered that Ortiz would throw the first pitch of the inning for a ball, and 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, last appearing in a 6-4 Cleveland win over Kansas City on July 26, where he threw the ninth inning and earned a save. Neither pitcher appeared in the postseason for Cleveland.
Major League Baseball has yet to announce the results of the ongoing investigation.
The Tiburones de La Guaira are 3-3 thus far and tied for fourth place in the 2025-26 LVBP season, while the Estrellas Orientales are 4-1 through five games and in first place in LIDOM.
Photo: Cleveland Guardians pitcher Emmanuel Clase throws during a baseball game against the Cincinnati Reds, Saturday, May 17, 2025, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Jeff Dean)
