Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz are on trial in Brooklyn for an alleged pitch rigging scheme from their time pitching with the Cleveland Guardians.
On Thursday, former Guardians catcher Bo Naylor appeared as a defense witness (ahead of schedule so he could fly to Italy to get married this weekend).
Two other catchers are on the witness list — Austin Hedges and Mike Zunino — and will potentially give their testimony later in the trial.
But first it was Naylor who gave his witness to what he knew about what had occurred.
It’s certainly a notable perspective on the case to hear from a catcher who was behind the plate when Clase allegedly committed the pitch rigging.
Bo Naylor Answers About Emmanuel Clase
The Athletic’s Sam Blum is covering this trial and provided great details on what was said during Thursday’s testimony.
Here’s a portion of what he wrote about Naylor:
After watching a video of the allegedly rigged pitch that he caught, Naylor testified it appeared he called the pitch — an outside slider to St. Louis Cardinals hitter Pedro Pagés — using PitchCom. Naylor had already testified that Pages’ scouting report suggested low-and-away sliders were Pages’ most prominent weakness as a hitter.
“Seems like a pretty good pitch to have as a weapon if you want to induce chase,” Naylor testified in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York in Brooklyn.
Blum goes on to write that the defense attorney for Clase pointed out that five of the seven at bats Naylor was catching in which an allegedly rigged pitch occurred still resulted in outs.
Blum writes: “That questioning appeared to be part of a larger strategy to show that throwing pitches off the plate, even intentionally, can still be in furtherance of trying to get the hitter out.”
And then Blum added this about the prosecution’s questioning of Naylor:
On cross-examination by the government, Naylor was shown video of Clase appearing to shake off signals on two allegedly rigged pitches, implying that Clase was making a conscious decision to throw pitches slower and for a ball, which would lead to payouts on the bets.
The prosecution asked Naylor about Clase’s elite command of pitches, but Naylor said Clase was better able to command location on his cut fastball than on his slider.
More Trial Ahead
Once Naylor was done, the trial went back to the prosecution’s case, since Naylor had simply gone out of order ahead of his international flight.
The prosecution will have to continue its case before the defense gets to call its other witnesses.
There will eventually be a verdict, and no matter what happens, it’s a hugely important case for the future of Major League Baseball and sports betting.
Guardians’ Emmanuel Clase Trial Gets Honest Answers From Bo Naylor