Former New Jersey high school superstar embroiled in MLB betting odds investigation – Trentonian

FILE – San Diego Padres starting pitcher Jay Groome throws against the Milwaukee Brewers during the second inning of a spring training baseball game Thursday, March 23, 2023, in Phoenix. Major League Baseball suspended Groome for one year on Tuesday, June 4, 2024, after the player was found to have placed unrelated bets at a legal sportsbook. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)

NEW YORK — San Diego Padres infielder Tucupita Marcano was banned from baseball for life by Major League Baseball on Tuesday for betting on the sport. Four other players were suspended for a year in the biggest gambling scandal in the sport’s history.

According to MLB, Marcano placed 387 baseball bets totaling more than $150,000 with a legal sportsbook in October 2022 and from July through November of last year. He was the first active player in a century to be banned for life for gambling.

Oakland Athletics pitcher Michael Kelly was suspended for a year for betting on baseball in the minor leagues. Three minor league players were also suspended for a year for betting on major league games: pitchers Jay Groome of San Diego and Andrew Saalfrank of Arizona, and infielder José Rodríguez of Philadelphia. Each of these four players wagered less than $1,000.

“Strict enforcement of Major League Baseball’s rules and policies on gambling behavior is a critical component of our most important priority: preserving the integrity of our games for fans,” Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement. “The longstanding prohibition on betting on Major League Baseball games has been a core principle for over a century. We have made it clear that the privilege of playing baseball comes with the responsibility to refrain from certain behaviors that are legal for other people to engage in.”

Marcano was the first active major league player to be banned for life under the sport’s gambling regulations since New York Giants outfielder Jimmy O’Connell in 1924. Pete Rose, baseball’s all-time hitter, agreed to a lifetime ban in 1989 after an investigation concluded he had bet on Cincinnati Reds games while managing the team.

Major League Rule 21, posted in every clubhouse, states that wagering on baseball games in which a player, umpire, league official or team employee is not required to act will result in a one-year suspension. Wagering on games in which the person is required to act will result in a lifetime suspension.

Marcano is the second North American athlete to be suspended for gambling in recent months. The NBA imposed a lifetime ban on Toronto’s Jontay Porter in April after concluding that he had shared confidential information with players and placed bets on games, including on a Raptors loss.

MLB said it was informed of the betting activity by a legal sportsbook. None of the penalized players participated in the games they bet on, and all of the players denied to MLB that they had any inside information about their bets or the games they bet on – statements that MLB said are consistent with data it received from the sportsbook.

In its announcement, MLB explained the bets available for each player.

Marcano’s 387 baseball wagers included 231 MLB-related bets valued at $87,319 between Oct. 16, 2022, and Nov. 1 of last year. Twenty-five of those bets involved wagers on Pirates games when he was on the team’s major league roster. Marcano, now 24, has not played since tearing his right anterior cruciate ligament on July 24 of last year and underwent medical treatment at PNC Park last year.

Marcano bet almost exclusively on the outcome of games and lost all of his parlay bets involving the Pirates. He won only 4.3% of all of his MLB-related bets.

Marcano made his major league debut on April 1, 2021, and has a .217 average with five home runs, 34 RBIs and seven stolen bases in 149 games. He has played in both the infield and outfield.

The other four players did not bet on games of their respective teams.

Kelly placed 10 bets on nine major league games from October 5-17, 2021, while assigned to Houston’s Triple-A Sugar Land farm team as a minor league player. The bets included bets on outcomes, over/under on runs, and an individual pitcher’s strikeout count. Three of the nine games involved the major league Astros. His bets totaled $99.22 and resulted in a profit of $28.30.

Kelly, 31, is 3-2 with a 2.59 ERA in 28 games this season and was last in action as a pitcher on Saturday in Atlanta. The former first-round draft pick has appeared in 46 games over the past three seasons.

Groome, a 25-year-old who had been on the minor league injured list since mid-April, placed 32 MLB-related bets from July 22, 2020, to July 24, 2021, including 24 on the major league team Boston Red Sox while assigned to Boston’s High-A team in Greenville, South Carolina. Sportsbook reported that he wagered $453.74 on 30 MLB games and suffered a net loss of $433.54, receiving payouts on only two bets. His bets included parlay bets.

Rodríguez, 23, was at Double-A Reading this season. On Sept. 30, 2021, and from June 5 to July 30, 2022, he placed 31 bets on baseball, including 28 on MLB and three on college baseball. In total, seven bets were on the Chicago White Sox by the time he was assigned to their Double-A team in Birmingham, Alabama. Two of the bets on the White Sox were on results and the others were on runs scored. He wagered $749.09 on baseball, including $724.09 on MLB-related bets, including parlay bets.

Saalfrank, 26, pitched in 21 games for Arizona between the regular season and the postseason last year, including three World Series games, and two this year before being sent to Triple-A Reno on May 1. From Sept. 9 through Oct. 29, 2021, and on March 9, 2022, he placed 29 baseball bets, including 28 on MLB and one parlay bet on college baseball. He placed four bets on the Diamondbacks in the major leagues while on the injured list of their Low-A farm team. His baseball bets totaled $445.87 on baseball, including $444.07 on MLB, and he lost $272.64 on MLB bets and $1.80 on college bets. He won only five of 28 MLB bets, including results, runs and pitcher strikeouts.