When Luis de Aza Baez asked for a fresh batch of inside information on Emmanuel Clase’s pitches during the 2024 Major League Baseball season, the Uber driver from the Dominican Republic was turned down.
The reason, he testified, was not a change of heart. It was Shohei Ohtani.
“Because of what was going on with Ohtani, there was no more information like that,” de Aza Baez told the court he was told by his contact, according to Yahoo Sports.
De Aza Baez is a cooperating witness at the federal fraud trial of Clase and fellow former Cleveland pitcher Luis Ortiz, accused of taking bribes to manipulate individual throws for gamblers. The scandal that killed his pipeline was the one that engulfed Shohei Ohtani’s former interpreter Ippei Mizuhara, who pleaded guilty to stealing nearly $17 million from the Los Angeles Dodgers star to cover illegal gambling debts and is serving a 57-month federal sentence, as the World Casino Directory noted in its coverage of the testimony.
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The Uber driver and the group chat “Uber Inc.”
The trial opened on Monday, November 2 in federal court in Brooklyn. Prosecutors allege Clase, 28, began feeding information on the speed and outcome of his pitches to bettors in 2023 and that Ortiz, 27, was recruited in 2025. In total, 18 of Clase’s pitches and two of Ortiz’s are alleged to have been rigged, generating at least $460,000 in winnings for the bettors.
De Aza Baez told the court he received his tips through a group chat called “Uber Inc.”, with the information originating from Clase’s associate Enoc Pena rather than Clase directly. He opened a DraftKings account in his wife’s name to raise his betting limits, and under a cooperation deal that saw a wire fraud charge dropped, agreed to forfeit $69,000 in winnings.
Both pitchers have pleaded not guilty to wire fraud conspiracy, honest services wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, and conspiracy to influence sporting contests by bribery. They remain free on bail and have been placed on non-disciplinary leave without pay.
Naylor: the pitches looked ordinary
Bo Naylor, the former Cleveland catcher now with the Milwaukee Brewers, took the stand for the defense on Thursday, November 5. Naylor caught seven of the 18 pitches prosecutors say Clase rigged, in games played between May 19, 2023 and May 28, 2025.
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He told the jury he saw nothing unusual in the deliveries at the time and did not know gamblers could bet on individual pitches.
“I didn’t know that before. I didn’t know that until the situation,” Naylor said of the prop-bet market, ABC News reported. Clase, he added, had “pretty good command” of his pitches.
The money, and what is still to come
Clase was in the fourth season of a five-year, $20 million contract when he was charged. Ortiz earned $782,600 during the 2025 season. Prosecutors say the pitchers received several thousand dollars in payoffs while the Dominican-based bettors pocketed the far larger winnings. Clase’s lawyers have suggested his interests ran to cockfighting and dominoes rather than sports betting.
Judge Kiyo A. Matsumoto has said the trial is expected to run until December 3.
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