Former Cleveland Guardians catcher Bo Naylor told a Brooklyn jury on Thursday that he had no idea gamblers could wager on individual pitches until the federal criminal case against his former teammates, pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz, came to light.
Naylor appeared as a defense witness, called out of order because he is about to leave for his wedding. His statement about pitch betting came under cross-examination by Assistant U.S. Attorney James Simmons, who asked whether he knew such wagers existed when the 2025 game footage being shown to jurors was recorded.
"I didn't know that before," Naylor said. "I didn't know that until the situation." When Simmons pressed him, asking, "You didn't know people bet tens of thousands of dollars on pitches?" defense lawyers objected, and the judge sustained the objection before Naylor could respond.
The exchange underscored how rapidly sports wagering has grown. Legal sports betting has reached 39 states since the U.S. Supreme Court opened the door in 2018. Betting on whether a pitch lands as a ball or a strike is a form of prop bet, a widely popular wager type often tied to a single player's performance, such as strikeout totals in baseball, points and rebounds in basketball, or passing yardage in football.
Naylor, whom Cleveland traded to the Milwaukee Brewers in August, just weeks before his new club won the World Series, was first questioned by defense attorneys for the two pitchers. They had him review dozens of clips of pitches Clase and Ortiz threw in 2025, and he explained that catchers signal to pitchers what to throw and where to aim before each pitch.
He described how catchers and pitchers map out a plan in pregame meetings, targeting each hitter's weaknesses based on analysis of their tendencies. He conceded that even elite pitchers cannot guarantee a pitch ends up where intended, though he said Clase, a three-time All-Star and two-time American League Reliever of the Year, had "pretty good command." Naylor also confirmed that pitchers have the final word, since they can shake off a catcher's call.
Clase, 28, and Ortiz, 27, have pleaded not guilty to conspiracy charges filed a year ago. Prosecutors allege the pair took payments of several thousand dollars so gamblers could bet on specific pitches, a scheme they say netted the bettors at least $460,000. According to the government, Clase, who had finished the fourth season of a $20 million, five-year deal, began tipping bettors about his pitches in 2023 and brought Ortiz into the operation in 2025. Ortiz earned $782,600 as a Guardians starter that season. Both men are free on bail and on nondisciplinary, unpaid leave from the club.
Naylor, who learned Spanish to better communicate with Spanish-speaking teammates, admitted to the prosecutor that he was not close friends with either defendant. Simmons also drew out that Naylor had often seen Clase on his cell phone in the locker room; prosecutors have alleged Clase at times violated Major League Baseball rules by communicating with gamblers during games.
Clase's attorney, Michael Ferrara, asked Naylor whether he had heard Clase was involved in cockfighting with people he knew from his native Dominican Republic. Naylor said he had, citing "rumors I heard around the clubhouse." Clase's lawyers have told jurors the pitcher's friends shared his passion for cockfights, which are legal in the Dominican Republic, and for playing dominoes, not for sports gambling.
