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Los Angeles Angels star Mike Trout testified Tuesday that he loved his teammate Tyler Skaggs like a brother and did not see any signs of drug use before the pitcher died of an overdose in 2019.
Trout, one of the greatest baseball players of his generation, took the stand in a civil trial in California over whether the Angels should be held responsible for their former communications director, Eric Kay, giving Skaggs a fentanyl-laced pill that led to his death.
Trout told the courtroom about his friendship with Skaggs, which started when the Angels drafted both players out of high school as teenagers in 2009. Trout said Skaggs was “very funny, outgoing, fun to be around” and acted as the team’s DJ.
Trout also said Kay was good at his job, getting players to give interviews and guiding them on which questions they might be asked. At one point, however, Trout said a clubhouse attendant suggested the players should stop paying Kay for stunts like taking a fastball to the leg, shaving off his eyebrows and eating a pimple off Trout’s back. The attendant was concerned the money might be used for a “bad purpose.”
Trout said he had seen Kay acting wired and sweating and “the first thing that came to mind was drugs”. Trout added it was clear Kay was “using something”.
“I just didn’t know what it was,” Trout told the court, adding he approached Kay and offered to help him if needed. Trout was not asked whether he reported his concerns to the team.
The testimony came at the trial for a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Skaggs’ wife, Carli, and his parents, who contend the Angels made a series of reckless decisions that gave Kay access to players when he was an addict and dealing drugs. The team has countered that Skaggs was also drinking heavily and his actions occurred on his own time and in the privacy of his hotel room.
The trial comes more than six years after the 27-year-old was found dead in a Dallas hotel room before the Angels were due to play the Texas Rangers. A coroner’s report says Skaggs choked to death on his vomit and that a toxic mix of alcohol, fentanyl and oxycodone was found in his system.
Kay was convicted in 2022 of providing Skaggs with a counterfeit oxycodone pill laced with fentanyl and sentenced to 22 years in federal prison. His trial included testimony from five MLB players who said they received oxycodone from Kay at various times from 2017 to 2019, the years he was accused of obtaining pills and giving them to Angels players.
Skaggs’s family is seeking $118m for the pitcher’s lost earnings, compensation for pain and suffering, as well as punitive damages against the team.
Skaggs had been a regular in the Angels’ starting rotation since late 2016 and struggled with injuries repeatedly during that time. He previously played for the Arizona Diamondbacks.
After Skaggs’s death, the MLB reached a deal with the players association to start testing for opioids and to refer those who test positive to the treatment board.
In addition to Trout, other players including former Angels pitcher Wade Miley, who currently plays for the Cincinnati Reds, could also testify in what is expected to be a weekslong trial in Santa Ana, California.
