Tyler Skaggs was an American left-handed professional baseball starting pitcher who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Arizona Diamondbacks and Los Angeles Angels. The 27-year-old died on July 1, 2019, from a drug overdose.

On Tuesday, former Los Angeles Angels employee Eric Kay was sentenced to 22 years in federal prison for providing Skaggs with the drugs that led to his overdose death in Texas. Kay faced at least 20 years in prison on one of the two counts.

An autopsy report had revealed that Skaggs had choked to death on his vomit and that a toxic mix of alcohol, fentanyl and oxycodone was in his system.

The judge said Kay displayed “a callousness and refusal to accept responsibility and even be remorseful for something that you caused.”

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“Tyler Skaggs wasn’t a perfect person,” the judge said. “But he paid the ultimate price for it.”

Who was Tyler Skaggs?

Tyler Skaggs was a native of Woodland Hills, California. He graduated from Santa Monica High School.

He was a supplemental first-round selection for the Angels in the 2009 Major League Baseball draft. He was traded to the Diamondbacks the following year.

Skaggs made his major league debut on August 22, 2012, against the Miami Marlins, after two consecutive appearances at the All-Star Futures Game in 2011 and 2012.

He remained with the Diamondbacks through the end of the season. In December 2013, the Diamondbacks traded Skaggs back to the Angels. Several injuries troubled Skaggs’s time with the Angels. On April 28, 2017, he left a game against the Texas Rangers in the fifth inning with muscle pain. He was later diagnosed with Grade 2 oblique muscle strain.

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Through June 2019, he posted a career earned run average (ERA) of 4.41, recorded 476 strikeouts, and had a win–loss record of 28–38.

On July 1, 2019, Skaggs was found unresponsive in his hotel room in Southlake, Texas. He was declared dead the same day.

Skaggs married his girlfriend, Carli Miles, on New Year’s Eve in 2018.