Cleveland Guardians starting pitcher Luis Ortiz has been placed on paid leave, the team announced Thursday morning. The investigation is related to gambling, according to The Athletic. Ortiz was scheduled to start the Guardians' game Thursday night against the Cubs, but instead it'll be Joey Cantillo taking the ball for Cleveland.
The Guardians released the following statement on the matter:
The Guardians have been notified by Major League Baseball that Luis Ortiz has been placed on leave per an agreement with the Players Association due to an ongoing league investigation.
The Guardians are not permitted to comment further at this time, and will respect the league's confidential investigative process.
Major League Baseball allows players to legally gamble on sports, but not any "diamond" sports, which means they can't gamble on baseball or softball at any level. Previously, Tucupita Marcano was permanently banned from baseball due to gambling on games involving his own team. Four other players -- Michael Kelly, Jay Groome, José Rodríguez and Andrew Saalfrank -- were suspended for a year for gambling on baseball games in which they were not personally involved.
Ortiz, 26, is 4-9 with a 4.36 ERA (95 ERA+), 1.38 WHIP and 96 strikeouts against 42 walks in 88 ⅔ innings this season.
The Guardians enter Thursday 40-44, which is 14 games out in the AL Central, though they are only four games back of the third AL wild-card spot.
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