One of the officials implicated in the death of former Los Angeles Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs is speaking out for the first time since his sentencing.
Former Angels communications director Eric Kay, sentenced to 22 years in prison in October 2022, has opened up about his new reality and his perceived role in Skaggs’ tragic death in an interview with The Athletic.
Kay, who was found guilty of providing the drugs that led to Skaggs’ fatal overdose, views his punishment as excessively harsh and is seeking to overturn his sentence through a habeas corpus appeal. “I’m going to fight this,” Kay told reporter Sam Blum. “And I’m continuing to fight until I can’t anymore.”
Expressing his struggle with incarceration, Kay said, “I can’t do this time. I’m not built for this. If I were to feel like, ‘You know what, I deserve this. This time is fair.’ That’s a different story. But it’s not. I was convicted on conjecture. I was convicted on falsehoods.”
Tyler Skaggs, 27, died of a fentanyl overdose on July 1, 2019, in a team hotel room in Texas. In February 2022, Kay was found guilty of providing Skaggs with the laced drugs that caused his death and was charged with drug distribution resulting in death and drug conspiracy.
However, Kay disputes the charges, asserting that the drugs he supplied were not the ones that killed Skaggs. “I did not travel with the pills — a requisite for my conviction,” Kay stated, insisting there’s no definitive proof his pills were responsible for Skaggs’ death.
According to The Athletic and police reports, Kay and Skaggs had a “codependent relationship” centered around drug exchanges dating back to 2015. Kay also revealed to Blum that he saw “lines of drugs” in Skaggs’ hotel room the night before his death but claimed he left before Skaggs began overdosing.
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Kay’s October 2022 sentencing included a recording of a call he made to his mother, in which he called Skaggs a “piece of sh-t” and referred to Skaggs’ family as “dumb” and “white trash,” accusing them of seeing “dollar signs” in Skaggs’ death. “They may get more money with him dead than he was playing because he sucked,” Kay remarked.
Nearly two years later, Kay expressed remorse for his harsh comments. “I’m horribly sorry for what I said in a private moment of weakness. That is awful. There’s no explanation for that. I didn’t mean it. I was looking for anybody to blame and yell at.”
The trial also implicated other former Angels players, including Matt Harvey, a one-time All-Star pitcher who was suspended for 60 games after admitting he gave opioids to Skaggs.
Despite his dissatisfaction with the conviction, Kay acknowledged his role in Skaggs’ death. “I feel horrible that I didn’t stop contributing to his addiction. He had so much more to live for than me. … ‘What are you doing?’ I should have said that. ‘Tyler, what are you doing, dude?’”
