SANTA ANA, Calif. — Angels superstar Mike Trout took the stand Tuesday in the wrongful death civil trial brought by the family of deceased former pitcher Tyler Skaggs — tearing up as he testified that he viewed Skaggs as a brother.
Trout acknowledged that he became aware before Skaggs’ death that then-Angels director of communications Eric Kay was using drugs, and offered to lend support for Kay to attend drug rehabilitation.
Kay is serving a 22-year federal prison sentence for providing the fentanyl-laced pill that Skaggs ingested on July 1, 2019, which a jury found was a substantial factor in his death.
Skaggs’ family attorney Bill Haggerty questioned Trout regarding his relationship with Skaggs, his view of him as a player and whether he knew about Skaggs’ drug use. He also asked Trout about his dynamic with Kay, and the “horseplay” dares that Trout paid Kay to participate in.
Trout, wearing a suit and flanked by his attorney and Angels team security, said that he does not like speaking in public, and that he didn’t want to testify. Trout retained his own counsel, not affiliated with the Angels, to represent him in this case. He was given access to a private room before his testimony, and during the break. Nearly all of his answers were just a “yes” or “no,” unless he was otherwise prompted.
He was questioned about, and admitted to, conducting dares in the clubhouse, some of which he said included then-teammates Albert Pujols and Kole Calhoun. They involved Kay eating a popped pimple off Trout’s back, taking a 90-MPH fastball to the leg, taking a football thrown by Calhoun off the head while wearing a Philadelphia Eagles helmet, eating a bug off the clubhouse floor and shaving his eyebrows.
“I’m not proud of it,” Trout said.
Trout said those dares stopped when he was notified by clubhouse attendant Kris Constanti that the cash was being used to fuel Kay’s drug habit. This conversation occurred in 2018, according to Constanti’s deposition testimony.
At that time, Trout said, he also stopped giving signed baseballs to Kay, unless he knew exactly where the ball was going. He also offered to support Kay’s rehab, imploring him to think about his children.
“‘You have two boys at home,” Trout testified he told Kay, “‘and you have to get this right.”
The two prior witnesses in this case — Angels ex-VP for communications Tim Mead and current traveling secretary Tom Taylor — were far more reserved in their characterizations of Kay’s drug abuse.
Mead said he believed at the time that Kay was simply misusing his prescribed medication. He said that Kay’s conduct did not rise to the level of needing to be reported to team officials or human resources. Taylor said he did not believe Kay had any drug problem, despite being presented with text message evidence and deposition testimony from Camela Kay, Eric’s wife, that he was informed of it. Taylor said he believed Kay was suffering from a “mental health” issue.
Trout was asked by Haggerty, the Skaggs family lawyer, about his friendship with Skaggs. The two roomed together at the Angels’ minor league affiliate in Cedar Rapids during the 2010 season, and stayed in touch after Skaggs was traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks. He was later traded back to the Angels, where Trout treated Skaggs to Lakers tickets and a meeting with Skaggs’ idol, Lakers star Kobe Bryant.
Trout said he had no idea that Skaggs was abusing opiates, or that he had any sort of drug addiction. He also said he was unaware that any other player was using drugs or receiving pills from Kay, until those players (including Matt Harvey, C.J. Cron, Cam Bedrosian, Blake Parker and Mike Morin) testified at Kay’s criminal trial.
On the night that Skaggs died, Trout said he saw Skaggs drink a couple beers before the two rode up in the hotel elevator together. After hearing the following day about Skaggs’ death, Trout said he broke down crying. The following day, Trout said, Kay asked him to speak with the media about Skaggs.
“It’s sad losing somebody,” Trout said in court.
Haggerty also questioned Trout on Skaggs’ ability as a pitcher — likely part of their trial strategy to emphasize the potential future earnings element of their damages claim. Haggerty asked Trout about Skaggs’ “nasty” curveball, whether he believed Skaggs would be in contention for an All-Star game, and why lefty pitchers like Skaggs are viewed as more valuable than right-handers.
Trout said Skaggs would have been in the discussion for an All-Star nod in 2019, and agreed he was improving as a pitcher.
Angels attorney Todd Theodora reiterated some of Trout’s earlier testimony — verifying that Trout was unaware of Skaggs’ use, or the drug use of any other teammates at the time.
Theodora asked Trout if he believed that it was in Kay’s job description to provide drugs to players who asked for them, to which Trout said no. This was part of the Angels’ trial strategy to stress that Kay was not acting within the scope of his work responsibilities in providing the lethal pill to Skaggs.
On redirect, Skaggs family attorneys used that as an opening to ask about Kay procuring Viagra, a prescription medication, for a person who’d asked for it. Trout said he “may have” heard about that. He also said he “maybe” heard of clubhouse attendants providing marijuana to players.
Trout’s emotion became evident toward the end of his direct questioning from Haggerty. He was asked about hitting a home run on the Angels’ first home game after Skaggs’ death — which famously finished with a combined Angels no-hitter. He thought of Skaggs that night, Trout said, as well as during the All-Star game that summer, when he wore Skaggs’ No. 45 as a tribute.
In the front row of the courtroom, Skaggs’ widow, Carli Skaggs was in tears, consoled by Skaggs’ mother, Debbie Skaggs, who was sitting to her right.
When Trout thinks of Skaggs, he said, he doesn’t think of a drug addict. He recalled Skaggs telling him that he wanted to become a father.
“Unbelievable guy,” Trout said. “Fun to be around. The life of the party.”