A former Los Angeles Angels teammate of pitcher Tyler Skaggs testified in the wrongful death civil suit against the team that he, Skaggs, and former communications director Eric Kay hid their drug use from the Angels.
Skaggs’ family is suing the Angels for wrongful death, seeking at least $118 million in lost earnings, compensation for pain and suffering, and punitive damages against the team, claiming they should have been aware that Kay was giving him drugs.
Mike Morin, who pitched for the Angels from 2014 through 2017, said that he had an arm injury during his last season with the team and that Kay provided him with drugs. The pills would be dropped off in his locker, and Kay would pick up the money that Morin left for him there.
Morin said Kay gave him ‘blue boys,’ a term used to identify blue, 30-milligram oxycodone pills, and said he and Skaggs used the clubhouse bathroom for their drug use, crushing up pills and snorting them on a toilet paper dispenser.
Morin said during his testimony that he had five to eight dealings with Kay involving payment for drugs and added that he feels that Skaggs was responsible for his own actions, a key point in the Angels’ defense.
‘It’s impossible for anyone to understand what it’s like to play at the MLB level,’ Morin said. ‘Only people that get it are in the same room. It’s immense highs and immense lows. What it feels like to devote your life to something and fail, yeah, there’s not a whole lot of other people that can fully understand what it takes to get there and to stay there.’
Kay is currently serving 22 years in federal prison after being found guilty of distribution of a controlled substance resulting in death and conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances in the July 1, 2019, death of Skaggs, who was found dead in a Southlake, Texas, hotel room as the Angels were set to play a four-game series against the Texas Rangers. Authorities said that Kay distributed the fentanyl-laced pills that killed Skaggs.