Former Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz are on trial this week in Brooklyn.
They're under investigation for allegedly engaging in a scheme to intentionally throw certain pitch types (velocities) and intentionally throw pitches out of the strike zone in order for conspiring gamblers to make money off outcomes they knew would be coming on individual pitches.
One of the features of the trial is that three former Guardians catchers are on the witness list: Bo Naylor, Austin Hedges and Mike Zunino.
Naylor was the first to testify, but he did it out of order on Thursday.
Normally, a defense witness like Naylor would testify after the prosecuting witnesses. Naylor had a good reason to be there early, though.
Naylor needs to leave the country for the weekend.
He's getting married in Italy in a few days:
That'll be a thrilling moment in Bo's life coming off the back of being in the Brewers' organization to end the season when they won the World Series — although Bo wasn't on the World Series roster.
First, he was called to the stand to be asked what he might know about what transpired with Clase and Ortiz.
This isn't the kind of trial you get every day, so the witness list is fascinating. It also includes Guardians pitching coach Carl Willis.
It's clear based on the opening statements on Wednesday that Clase and Ortiz will make the case that they weren't missing on pitches or throwing certain pitch types as part of a scheme but rather as part of a plan to attack opposing hitters.
The hope would evidently be that the catchers can vouch for them on that.
Whether or not such testimony can outdo evidence, or whether the evidence is enough to outdo some inside-baseball-level testimony, remains to be seen.
But Naylor is in and out in a flash as he heads to get married this weekend.
This article was originally published on HEAVY
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