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Los Angeles Angels outfielder Mike Trout (27) listens to the national anthem before a baseball game against the Royals Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025, in Anaheim, Calif.

AP Photo/Wally Skalij

Angels outfielder Mike Trout testifies he loved late teammate Skaggs and saw no signs of drug use

By The Canadian Press

Published 12:23 PDT, Tue October 21, 2025

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SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — Los Angeles Angels outfielder Mike Trout testified Tuesday that he loved his teammate Tyler Skaggs like a brother and never saw signs of drug use before he died of an overdose on a team trip to Texas in 2019.

Trout, a three-time American League Most Valuable Player who hit his 400th career home run this year, took the stand in a civil trial in Southern California over whether the MLB team should be held responsible for its communication director Eric Kay giving Skaggs a fentanyl-laced pill that led to his death.

Trout, who acknowledged he didn't like speaking in public, told the courtroom about his friendship with Skaggs from the time they roomed together as rookies in Iowa and through playing for the Angels. Both were drafted out of high school as teens in 2009 — Trout from New Jersey, and Skaggs from California.

Skaggs was “very funny, outgoing, fun to be around” and toted around a boom box as the team’s deejay, Trout said.

Trout also said Kay was good at his job, getting players to give interviews and guiding them on which questions they might be asked. At one point, however, Trout said a clubhouse attendant suggested the players should stop paying Kay for stunts he was pulling like taking a fastball to the leg, shaving off his eyebrows and eating a pimple off Trout’s back due to concerns the money might be used for a “bad purpose.”

Trout said he had seen Kay acting wired and sweating and “the first thing that came to 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 he approached Kay and told him if he needed anything to let him know.

The testimony came at the trial for a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Skaggs' wife, Carli, and his parents, who contend the Angels made a series of reckless decisions that gave Kay access to MLB players when he was addicted to drugs and dealing them. The team has countered that Skaggs was also drinking heavily and his actions occurred on his own time and in the privacy of his hotel room when he died.

The trial comes more than six years after 27-year-old Skaggs was found dead in the suburban Dallas hotel room where he was staying as the Angels were supposed to open a four-game series against the Texas Rangers. A coroner’s report says Skaggs choked to death on his vomit and that a toxic mix of alcohol, fentanyl and oxycodone was found in his system.

Kay was convicted in 2022 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, the years he was accused of obtaining pills and giving them to Angels players.

The family is seeking $118 million for Skaggs’ lost earnings, compensation for pain and suffering and punitive damages against the team.

Skaggs had been a regular in the Angels’ starting rotation since late 2016 and struggled with injuries repeatedly during that time. He previously played for the Arizona Diamondbacks.

After Skaggs’ death, the MLB reached a deal with the players association to start testing for opioids and to refer those who test positive to the treatment board.

In addition to Trout, other players including former Angels pitcher Wade Miley, who currently plays for the Cincinnati Reds, could also testify in what is expected to be a weekslong trial in Santa Ana, Calif.

– Amy Taxin, The Associated Press