SANTA ANA, CA— Los Angeles Angels outfielder Mike Trout said Tuesday that he loved his teammate Tyler Skaggs like a brother and never saw signs of drug use before he died of an overdose during the team's 2019 trip to Texas.
Trout, a three-time American League Most Valuable Player who hit his 400th career home run this year, argued in a civil lawsuit in Southern California over whether an MLB team should be held liable for its public relations director Eric Kay giving Skaggs a fentanyl pill that led to his death.
Trout, who admitted he doesn't like speaking in public, spoke in the courtroom about his friendship with Skaggs from their time living together in Iowa as rookies and while playing for the Angels. Both were drafted out of high school as teenagers in 2009—Trout from New Jersey and Skaggs from California.
According to Trout, Skaggs was “very funny, outgoing, fun to be around” and carried a boombox with him as the team's DJ.
Trout also said Kay did a good job getting players to do interviews and telling them what questions to ask. At one point, however, Trout said a club official suggested that players stop paying Kay for stunts he performed, such as hitting a ball in the leg, shaving his eyebrows and eating a pimple on Trout's back, due to concerns that the money might be used for “bad purposes.”
Trout said he saw Kay acting agitated and sweating, and “the first thing that came to his mind was drugs.”
He said it was clear he was “using something.”
“I just didn’t know what it was,” Trout told the court, adding that he approached Kay and told him if he needed to say anything.
The testimony was given at the trial in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Skaggs' wife Carly and his parents, who allege the Angels made a series of reckless decisions that gave Kay access to MLB players while he was addicted to and dealing drugs. The team countered that Skaggs was also a heavy drinker and that his actions occurred on his own time and in the privacy of his hotel room when he died.
The trial came more than six years after Skaggs, 27, was found dead in the suburban Dallas hotel room where he was staying when the Angels were scheduled to open a four-game series against the Texas Rangers. The coroner's report states that Skaggs choked to death from vomiting and that a toxic mixture of alcohol, fentanyl and oxycodone was found in his system.
In 2022, Kay was convicted of providing Skaggs with a counterfeit oxycodone pill laced with fentanyl and sentenced to 22 years in federal prison. His federal criminal trial in Texas included testimony from five MLB players who said they received oxycodone from Kay at various times from 2017 to 2019, when he was accused of obtaining the pills and giving them to Angels players.
The family is seeking $118 million in damages for Skaggs' lost earnings, pain and suffering, and punitive damages against the team.
Skaggs has been a fixture in the Angels' starting rotation since late 2016 and has battled injuries numerous times during that time. He previously played for the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Following Skaggs' death, MLB reached an agreement with the players' association to begin testing for opioids and referring those who test positive to a treatment panel.
In addition to Trout, other players, including former Angels pitcher Wade Miley, who currently plays for the Cincinnati Reds, also could testify at the trial, which is expected to last several weeks in Santa Ana, California.
