Star outfielder Mike Trout took the stand Tuesday in the wrongful death case brought against the Los Angeles Angels, describing how he offered to help former communications staffer Eric Kay with what Trout believed was a drug problem prior to Kay providing pitcher Tyler Skaggs with a counterfeit pill that led to his death.
Trout, during several hours of testimony in Orange County Superior Court, described how a clubhouse attendant warned him that money Kay had won in bets with players could be going to “a bad purpose.”
“First thing that came to my mind was drugs,” Trout said. “That was what I got out of it. I don’t know what kind of drugs.”
Kay — whose job included setting up media interviews and autograph signings with players — at times seemed “off” in the clubhouse, Trout said, describing Kay as “Sometimes just sweating, sometimes wired.” Trout said he decided to speak to Kay directly.
“I said ‘Hey, you got two boys at home, you’ve got to get this right,'” Trout recalled about his talk with Kay.
“You offered to pay for him to go to rehab?” Skaggs family attorney Wiliam Haggerty asked.
“I don’t remember me specifically saying I will pay for rehab, but I said if you need anything let me know,” Trout replied.
That Kay provided Skaggs and five other Angels players with opioids hasn’t been disputed during the civil wrongful death trial. Kay is in federal prison after being convicted for his role in Skaggs death. The question for the current jury is whether Angels’ officials knew, or at least should have known, about Kay’s illicit drug distribution to players prior to Skaggs death.
Trout testified that he was unaware of any of his teammates taking drugs or receiving illicit pills from Kay. The warning he received from the clubhouse attendant about Kay followed a series of clubhouse bets — which both attorneys and Trout described as “horseplay” — involving Kay.
Trout acknowledged that he and other players on different occasions paid Kay to take a 90 mph fastball to the leg, to eat a bug off the clubhouse floor, to shave his eyebrows, to jump in a cold plunge with his clothes on, to put a football helmet on and “get drilled” by a pass to the head, and to pop a pimple off his back and eat it.
“I’m not proud of that one,” Trout added.
Trout said that after learning of Kay’s suspected drug issues, he was careful to always make sure he knew where memorabilia that Kay asked him autograph was going to go. He was worried Kay would try to sell the memorabilia to pay for drugs, Trout explained.
It wasn’t clear exactly when Trout began to suspect that Kay had a drug problem.
“I don’t know specifically, but it was closer to when Tyler passed,” Trout said in response to a question submitted by a juror.
Trout acknowledged that he was uncomfortable testifying in court. His answers were generally brief and to the point.
“What is harder, facing a 100 mph fastball or showing up in court with a shirt and tie?” Angels attorney Todd Theodora asked at one point.
“Showing up in court,” Trout answered to laughs in the courtroom.
In response to questions from attorneys for the Skaggs family, Trout said he did not know if Kay was procuring sex workers for players during Spring Training. He said he “may have” heard that Kay got Viagra for a player who wanted it, and that some clubhouse attendants may have bought marijuana for players.
Trout testified at length about his friendship with Skaggs, whom he said he loved like a brother. The two grew up on opposite sides of the country — Skaggs in Santa Monica, Trout in Millville, New Jersey. But both were drafted the same year and bonded together while playing in “Rookie League.”
“He was the pride of Santa Monica like you were the pride of Millville?” Theodora asked.
“He was,” Trout responded, chuckling.
Trout said he and Skaggs lived together with a host family while playing for the Cedar Rapids Kernels in Iowa.
“We were both in a basement,” Trout said of their lodgings. “It was a nice basement.”
Skaggs was traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Both he and Trout were called up to the majors. And both reunited when Skaggs was traded back to the Angels.
Trout recalled Skaggs as “very funny, outgoing, fun to be around.” Skaggs carried his “boombox” on road trips, and was the teams unofficial DJ, he added.
Off the field, Trout said, he would watch football with Skaggs, go out to dinner and play pickup basketball.
“Tyler Skaggs had a better jump shot than you?” Haggerty asked.
Trout said the last time he saw Skaggs was in a hotel elevator after the arrived in Texas at the beginning of a road trip. On July 1, 2019, Skaggs was found dead in the hotel room, from what was later determined to be a mix of a counterfeit pill containing fentanyl — which had been provided to him by Kay — and oxycodone and alcohol.
“When you found out your teammate and buddy you knew since 2019 was dead, what did you do?” Haggerty asked.
“I cried,” Trout said.
Some of Skaggs family members held tissues and dabbed at their eyes as Trout described the Angels first home game after Skaggs death. All the players at the game wore 45 — Skaggs’ jersey number. Skaggs’ mother, Debbie, threw the opening pitch — a strike down the middle of the plate as Trout recalled. Trout hit a homer at his first at bat, during a seven-run first inning. And Angels pitchers threw a combined shutout against the Seattle Mariners, for a 13-0 Angels victory.
“Did you feel Tyler’s energy, his spirit that night?” Haggerty asked.
“I did,” Trout replied.
Attorneys for Skaggs family allege the Angels knew Kay was a drug addict who had been providing opioids to players, but allowed him to go on the Texas road trip anyway, leading to Skaggs death. Attorneys for the Angels counter that Skaggs died because he chose to combine the pill from Kay with oxycodone and an estimated 11 to 13 alcoholic drinks, and say the team was unaware of his drug issues or relationship with Kay until after the pitchers death.
