MLB’s Ortiz Latest Domino to Fall in Wave of Gambling Investigations

Cleveland Guardians pitcher Luis Ortiz has been placed on “non-disciplinary paid leave” for several weeks in what is believed to be the latest in a series of gambling-related investigations currently rocking the sports world. Although in a recently released statement the Guardians provided no concreate evidence of Ortiz’s leave being related to gambling, simply explaining that “The Guardians have been notified by Major League Baseball that Luis Ortiz has been placed on leave per an agreement with the Players Association due to an ongoing league investigation,” several sources have suggested to The Athletic that Ortiz is the subject of a betting probe¹.

The investigation stems from several pitches that were flagged by IC360, a betting-integrity firm, and by sportsbooks for suspicious betting activity². In the bottom-half of the second inning of a June 15th bout against the Seattle Mariners, unusual betting action was detected regarding whether the next pitch would be a ball or hit-by-pitch. Ortiz’s subsequent pitch was a slider far outside the zone, resulting in an eventual five-run inning. During the third inning of a June 27th game against the St. Louis Cardinals, the same exact scenario occurred, with unusual betting prior to a far-outside slider from Ortiz³.  

For Major League Baseball, the Ortiz scandal is just another smudge on what is a far-from-perfect track record. In 2024, Dodgers Star Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, was sentenced to fifty-seven months in federal prison for stealing roughly $17 million from his employer and using it to place bets with illegal operators. And earlier this year, MLB umpire Pat Hoberg was fired for sharing accounts with a friend on several sports betting websites⁴. 

And MLB is hardly the only professional sports association struggling with integrity issues. Just a few weeks ago, Detroit Piston’s guard Malik Beasley was named as the subject of an investigation into gambling during the 2023-2024 NBA season. Much like Ortiz, Beasley’s investigation came as a result of suspicious bets in several sportsbooks.

Ortiz’s suspension only lasts until the end of the All-Star Break⁵, meaning that it is entirely plausible that he will return to the Guardians’s lineup if nothing conclusive is found during his investigation. But at the very least, it may be a symbol of a greater effort by professional sports leagues to protect the integrity of their games. 

1. Zack Meisel, Guardians Pitcher Luis Ortiz Placed on Leave Due to MLB Betting Investigation: Sources, The Athletic (July 3, 2025)  ↩︎
2. David Purdum, Sources: Guardians’ Luis Ortiz Subject of Gambling Investigation: ESPN (July 3, 2025, 10:54 AM ET) ↩︎
3. Zack Meisel, Guardians Pitcher Luis Ortiz Placed on Leave Due to MLB Betting Investigation: Sources, The Athletic (July 3, 2025) ↩︎
4. Id. ↩︎
5. Id. ↩︎

Henry Bartholomew is a guest author who periodically contributes to the UB Law Sports & Entertainment Forum.  The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University at Buffalo School of Law or the UB Center for the Advancement of Sport.