Tucupita Marcano permanently banned from baseball for violating MLB's gambling policy
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — San Diego Padres infielder Tucupita Marcano, a former Pittsburgh Pirate, is now permanently banned from MLB for violating the league's gambling policy, the league announced Tuesday morning.
Four other players are facing year-long suspensions including Oakland A's pitcher Michael Kelly, San Diego Padres's pitcher Jay Groome, Philadelphia Phillies' infielder Jose Rodriguez and Arizona Diamondbacks' player Andrew Saalfrank.
In March of 2024, through a legal sports betting operator, past betting activity from MLB players occurred. The MLB states that no player placed a bet in a game they played in.
According to the league's statement, Marcano placed 387 baseball bets, including 231 MLB-related bets through a legal sportsbook. His bets consisted of parlays that would include MLB-related legs. Marcano bet over $150,000 on baseball, $87,319 of which were on MLB-related bets specifically.
Through the investigation, the MLB found that 25 of his 200 bets included Pittsburgh Pirates games when he was on the major league roster. However, he did not appear in any of the games he gambled on.
Marcano lost all of the parlays involving the Pirates and only won 4.3% of his MLB-related bets overall, the league said.
Marcano appeared in 75 games for the Pirates last season. In August 2023, Marcano underwent season-ending surgery to repair a torn right ACL.
The Pirates said in a statement Tuesday that the team was "extremely disappointed" in Marcano's actions and "fully supportive" of the league's ruling.
"While the thorough investigation revealed no evidence of any games being compromised, influenced, or manipulated in any way in this case, protecting the integrity of our game is paramount," the Pirates' said in a statement.
In a statement to CBS News on Monday, the MLBPA said, "We will not be commenting on this."
"We are aware of an active investigation by Major League Baseball regarding a matter that occurred when the player in question was a member of another organization and not affiliated with the San Diego Padres," the San Diego Padres said in a statement to CBS News on Monday. "We will not have any further comment until the investigative process has been completed."
Marcano made his major league debut in 2021 with the Padres before playing two seasons in Pittsburgh. He returned to San Diego this offseason on a one-year deal.
