Catcher says rigged pitches looked normal
Bo Naylor told a federal jury that the specific slider movements alleged by prosecutors appeared standard to him behind the plate.
By Connor Murphy ·
Former Cleveland Guardians catcher Bo Naylor testified on Thursday that the pitches at the center of a federal gambling trial appeared unremarkable to him. Naylor, serving as a witness for the defense, watched video replays of specific deliveries alleged to be part of a scheme. He stated that the movements looked like standard sliders located outside the strike zone.
Naylor played for the Guardians for five seasons before an August trade to the Milwaukee Brewers. He caught 14 of the 16 starts by pitcher Luis Ortiz in 2025. This included a June 27 game against the St. Louis Cardinals, one of two instances where the government claims Ortiz manipulated a pitch. Prosecutors allege Ortiz intentionally threw a ball to Pedro Pages on the first pitch of the bottom third inning.
During questioning by Ortiz's attorney, Naylor described the pitch simply as a slider low and away. He noted that scouting reports for the hitters Ortiz faced suggested that low, outside sliders would be a weapon. Naylor also caught seven of the 18 pitches reliever Emmanuel Clase is accused of rigging between May 2023 and May 2025. Naylor told the court he found none of those deliveries to be out of the ordinary.
Naylor said he did not know sportsbooks offered bets on individual pitch results or speed until the case became public. He agreed that sharing information with outsiders would be a betrayal but said he did not suspect breaches of trust by either pitcher. In the afternoon, government witness Edward Canario testified that he used information from co-defendant Luis Arismendy Paca Mendez to place bets on Clase's pitches in 2023.
Canario, speaking through an interpreter, said Paca Mendez told him to keep the information source secret. Canario stated he gave Paca Mendez half the proceeds from winning bets but absorbed all the losses. He described placing larger wagers when told to bet on Clase's first pitch of the ninth inning in specific games. The identity of the batter did not matter to Canario, only that they were first up in the ninth.
Betting records shown by the government indicate Canario wagered upwards of $600 per bet on pitches to be slower than 94.5 mph or to result in a ball or hit batsman. He said he increased his stakes because he had inside information. DraftKings director Joel Trella testified that investigators found 160 geolocation pings from accounts used in Clase's house, locating 14 people there. The trial is scheduled to continue until December 3 under Judge Kiyo A. Matsumoto.
