Bo Naylor told a Brooklyn federal jury that he was unaware during the 2025 season that gamblers could bet on whether a single pitch would be a ball or strike. Testifying for the defense in the sports-betting trial of Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz, Naylor said he learned of such wagers only when the case emerged.
Naylor was called out of order because he was due to travel for his wedding in Italy. His evidence focused on the baseball decisions behind individual pitches, including the roles of catchers and pitchers.
Catchers signal both the desired pitch and location, Naylor testified, but the pitcher has the final decision and may reject the call. He said pitching plans are developed in pregame meetings around opposing hitters’ tendencies, while even elite pitchers cannot ensure a ball goes precisely where intended.
The defense used that account to argue that pitches outside the strike zone, including deliberately thrown balls, can be legitimate attempts to retire a batter. Naylor said an outside slider thrown to St. Louis Cardinals hitter Pedro Pagés appeared to match a PitchCom call, and Pagés’ scouting report identified low-and-away sliders as a major weakness. Five of the seven pitches alleged to have been rigged that Naylor caught occurred in at-bats that ended in outs.
Naylor described Clase as having “pretty good command,” while adding that the pitcher located his cut fastball better than his slider. The government has alleged that Clase shook off catcher signals on two of the questioned pitches, indicating that he intentionally chose to throw slower balls outside the zone.
Prosecutors allege that Clase and Ortiz manipulated pitches so gamblers who received advance information could win pitch-level prop bets. They identified 18 Clase pitches from 2023 through 2025 as allegedly manipulated, most of them the first pitch to the first batter Clase faced, and say the scheme generated about $460,000 for gamblers.
The government’s case is that Clase began passing pitch information to bettors in 2023, brought Ortiz into the operation in 2025, and received thousands of dollars in payments. Clase and Ortiz have pleaded not guilty to charges including wire-fraud conspiracy, honest-services wire-fraud conspiracy, conspiracy to influence sports contests by bribery and money-laundering conspiracy.
The investigation followed irregular betting activity around two Ortiz pitches during the 2025 season, which betting platforms reported to Major League Baseball and authorities. A cooperating witness, Edward Comario, testified that he wagered on allegedly rigged pitches after receiving inside information, and a DraftKings investigator said 161 bets on Clase pitches came from geolocations associated with Clase’s home.
The defense has maintained that the government is misreading both baseball strategy and Clase’s communications. Clase’s lawyers have argued that messages linked by prosecutors to gambling instead concerned cockfighting, horses and other subjects. Naylor said he often saw Clase use a cellphone in the clubhouse but was not a close friend of either defendant.
The trial concerns a betting format MLB has identified as particularly vulnerable to integrity risks because a single player can determine a one-off event that may not affect the game’s final result. MLB has imposed safeguards across sportsbook operators representing more than 98% of the US betting market, capping pitch-level micro-bets at $200 and barring them from parlays. Under MLB Rule 21, players and other covered personnel who bet on a game in which they have duties are placed on the permanently ineligible list.
