Fowl ball: Feds say Emmanuel Clase used cockfighting lingo to hide rigged pitches

BROOKLYN (CN) — Cleveland Guardians pitcher Emmanuel Clase, charged alongside fellow Guardian Luis Ortiz with throwing rigged pitches during MLB games, used coded language with his friends to try to cover up the scheme, the government claims in new court filings.

Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn released a superseding indictment on Friday charging a new co-conspirator, Robinson Vasquez — supposedly a close friend of Clase — with placing bets on the players’ fixed pitches via online sportsbooks.

Prosecutors claim Clase and Vasquez chatted via text message prior to games, where Clase agreed in advance to throw specific types and speeds of pitches — all while using cockfighting lingo to cover their tracks.

“Throw a rock at the first rooster in today’s fight,” Vasquez texted Clase on May 18, 2025, according to the filing.

“Yes, of course, that’s an easy toss to that rooster,” Clase replied, following up later to clarify that he would throw it “low.”

Unfortunately for them, Clase never entered the Guardians’ game against the Cincinnati Reds that day, preventing him from “fulfilling the plan to throw a ball to the first batter he faced in the game,” prosecutors claim.

Clase is accused of texting an unnamed bettor similar instructions two years earlier — this time to wager on the third batter Clase faced in a game against the Detroit Tigers. That attempt was also botched after Clase again didn’t enter the game.

“Chicken number 3, after I kill the first 2, play the 3,” Clase wrote. “And if I can’t kill it, don’t play it. I have to kill the first 2.”

It appeared to be a few small hiccups in what was otherwise a vastly profitable scheme. The government claims Vasquez and other unnamed bettors took advantage of insider information from Clase and Ortiz to win at least $450,000 in total. Throughout the process, prosecutors say Clase and others consistently used “rooster” and “chicken” as code words for certain pitches.

On June 4, 2023, the government says Clase received a coded message from a bettor about throwing a fixed pitch against the Minnesota Twins.

“And the rooster [t]he same??” the message read.

Clase replied, “Yes, the same rooster.”

Prosecutors say several of the co-conspirators won around $33,000 that day on bets that Clase’s first pitch would be slower than 94.95 miles per hour.

Last month, prior to these texts coming to light, Clase’s lawyers tried to convince the court that he was indeed exchanging messages about cockfighting — not trying to cover up a sprawling pitch-rigging scheme. Clase is a “well-publicized breeder and participant in rooster fighting activities,” defense lawyers claimed in the January court filing.

And unlike in the United States, cockfighting is not illegal in Clase’s home country of the Dominican Republic.

In their initial indictment, prosecutors say Clase threw nine suspicious pitches between the 2023 and 2025 MLB seasons. But the list continues to grow; prosecutors are up to 15 questionable pitches, per the latest filing.

Clase is now accused of throwing one in a playoff game, too. In Friday’s superseder, the government flagged an Oct. 5, 2024, pitch from Clase in the ninth inning of the Guardians’ Game 1 win against the Detroit Tigers in the American League Division Series.

Prosecutors say they’ve identified three additional attempts by Clase to fix a pitch that got botched when he never got into the game.

Ortiz is said to have joined the scheme last summer. Both are accused of getting kickbacks for their involvement, but Ortiz is currently trying to sever his case from Clase by claiming he’s far less culpable than his teammate.

Both men remain on leave and will not report to spring training. They were both released on bond after their arrests in November, but are being subjected to GPS tracking thanks in part to their gaudy salaries.

Ortiz earned a $782,600 salary for the 2025 season while Clase, a three-time All-Star, made nearly $5 million last year.

Trial is set for May 4.

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