Cleveland Guardians pitcher Emmanuel Clase tipped bettors to his rigged pitches in text messages with coded language like “rooster” and “chicken,” prosecutors said in a revised indictment.

Newly retrieved messages show Clase used the coded language and even gave gamblers advance information about what pitches he would throw in the middle of games, prosecutors in Brooklyn, New York, said in documents unsealed Friday. In the revised indictment, prosecutors added at least five games where they said Clase tipped gamblers to how he would pitch.

Clase and Luis Ortiz, who also pitches for the Guardians, were charged in November in a sports betting and money-laundering scheme in which they allegedly gave advance information to bettors on certain pitches they made during Major League Baseball games.

Clase, who has not appeared in a professional game since July, was one of the most elite closers in the league before MLB placed him on non-disciplinary paid leave as part of an internal investigation.

The revised indictment comes after lawyers for the pitchers last month submitted the account of a bettor who said he traded messages with Clase about cockfighting and not baseball, arguing that prosecutors wrongfully interpreted discussions. Clase ran a cockfighting operation in the Dominican Republic, where the practice is legal, defense lawyers said.

The government says that in one June 4, 2023, exchange, an unidentified gambler asked Clase about his first pitch, writing, “And the rooster the same?”

Clase responded, “Yes, the same rooster,” allowing bettors to earn about $33,000, prosecutors said.

Both Clase and Ortiz have pleaded not guilty and are scheduled to go to trial in May. Michael Ferrara, a lawyer for Clase, said his client denies all the allegations in the new indictment.

“While we remain disappointed in the flawed views of the evidence and rush to judgment that led to these charges, we look forward to clearing his name at trial where the full facts and circumstances of the case will be revealed,” Ferrara said in an emailed statement.

The new indictment also adds two more people to the case, including Robinson Vasquez Germosen of the Dominican Republic, who prosecutors said lived in New York and Massachusetts. A second new defendant, whose name was blacked out, is not in custody, prosecutors said.

In a text on May 18, 2025, prosecutors said Germosen messaged Clase about throwing a fixed pitch. He wrote: “throw a rock at the first rooster in today’s fight.”

“Yes, of course, that’s an easy toss to that rooster,” Clase replied, and said in another message “Yes, totally easy.”

Germosen was arrested in December and released on $100,000 bond.

In the December complaint against Germosen, prosecutors said he even placed illegal bets while attending Clase’s MLB playoff games, including an Oct. 5, 2024 game against the Detroit Tigers in the American League Division series. Clase got a ticket for Germosen, who later collected $1,400 which prosecutors said were proceeds of fraudulent pitching. The US did not repeat those allegations in the new indictment.

“The indictment contains allegations, not proof,” said Germosen’s lawyer Todd Spodek. “Mr. Vasquez is completely innocent, and the evidence at trial will clear his name.”