Tyler Skaggs’ Family Says Angels Ignored Red Flags That Led To Fatal Overdose

A civil trial over the 2019 overdose death of Los Angeles Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs began this week in California, and attorneys for his family are placing blame squarely on the team. 

Shawn Holley, the attorney for the Skaggs family, told jurors on Tuesday that the Angels put him "directly in harm’s way" by continuing to employ Eric Kay, the team’s former communications director. Kay is currently serving a 22-year federal prison sentence after being convicted in 2022 of providing Skaggs with the fentanyl-laced oxycodone that led to his death. 

"They buried their heads in the sand over and over and over again, and as a result Tyler Skaggs is dead," Holley said. 

Tyler Skaggs died in 2019 at just 27 years old.

(Photo by Scott Winters/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

The wrongful death lawsuit was filed by Skaggs’ widow, Carli, and his parents. It alleges the Angels knew Kay was dealing drugs to players and failed to act. Holley said Kay’s drug use had been evident as early as 2013 and that team officials ignored red flags — including reports of Kay allegedly showing up to work high, snorting lines in the clubhouse kitchen and distributing pills in the locker room and stadium parking lot. 

"It was rampant, out of control and incredibly dangerous," Holley said. 

Holley added that after Kay returned from rehab in 2019, the team assigned him to travel with the Angels to Texas. That’s where prosecutors say he gave Skaggs the counterfeit pill that killed him. 

"It was a tragedy," Holley said, "that could have been prevented by the Angels."

Angels Claim Ignorance In Tyler Skaggs' Fatal Overdose 

Attorneys for the Angels say the team had no knowledge of Kay’s distribution or of Skaggs’ drug use. 

"Angels Baseball did not kill Tyler Skaggs," the team’s attorney, Todd Theodora, said. "We wish he had told us about his troubles, and we could have helped him." 

Theodora said Skaggs made a "reckless decision to mix large amounts of alcohol with narcotics on the night he died" and that the team had no reason to believe Kay was supplying drugs to players. 

"The evidence will show that Angels Baseball did not know that Tyler had a drug problem or that Eric Kay was distributing drugs to any player," Theodora said. "Period. End of story." 

Sunlight illuminates the pitchers mound with the jersey number of late Los Angeles Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs.

(Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports)

Skaggs died in a Texas hotel room while on a road trip with the team in July 2019. He had alcohol, oxycodone and fentanyl in his system and choked on his own vomit, according to the coroner’s report. 

The Skaggs family is seeking more than $100 million in damages. The trial is expected to last several weeks and could include testimony from current and former players, including Mike Trout and Wade Miley.