"Trout, a three-time American League Most Valuable Player, has played with the Angels his entire 15-year career and is under contract through the 2030 season. He was a teammate of Skaggs from 2014 to 2019, when the left-handed pitcher died in a Texas hotel room July 1, 2019, after snorting a counterfeit oxycodone pill that contained fentanyl, a powerful opioid."
"Key, a former Angels communications director, was sentenced to 22 years in federal prison after being convicted in 2022 of providing the pills that led to the Skaggs' overdose. According to trial transcripts, Skaggs lawyer Daniel Dutko asked Trout about his reaction when he learned the next day in a team meeting that Skaggs had died. "Cried," Trout answered. "You loved him like a brother," the lawyer said as Trout nodded affirmatively. Trout added that he was unaware of any drug use by Skaggs."
"Skaggs' lawyer asked questions to elicit testimony from Trout that would humanize Skaggs, to establish that he was a valued teammate and friend. Trout said he and Skaggs were roommates in 2010 when both were 18 years old and playing for the Angels affiliate in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Trout, the highest-paid Angels employee making more than $37 million a year, attended Skaggs' wedding in 2018."
Mike Trout testified he knew team employee Eric Kay had a drug problem but that pitcher Tyler Skaggs showed no signs of drug use. Trout and Skaggs were teammates from 2014–2019, roomed together in 2010 in Cedar Rapids, and Trout attended Skaggs' 2018 wedding. Kay was convicted in 2022 of providing the pills and sentenced to 22 years in federal prison. Skaggs was found dead July 1, 2019, in a Southlake, Texas hotel room after snorting a counterfeit oxycodone pill containing fentanyl; the autopsy found a 0.12 blood-alcohol level and ruled death from asphyxia after aspirating on vomit. Trout testified he cried and denied knowledge of Skaggs' drug use.
Read at Los Angeles Times
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