Free-agent pitcher Matt Harvey and three other former Los Angeles Angels testified Thursday that an ex-team employee provided them with opioids.
Pitchers Harvey, Mike Morin and Cam Bedrosian and first baseman C.J. Cron all said they received the pills from Eric Kay, the Angels’ former communications director who allegedly provided the drugs that contributed to the death of pitcher Tyler Skaggs.
Kay is on trial in federal court in Fort Worth, Texas, charged with drug distribution and conspiracy. Skaggs was found dead in a Texas hotel room on July 1, 2019, as the Angels were in the area to play the Rangers. Skaggs was 27.
The autopsy revealed Skaggs died of asphyxia and had oxycodone, fentanyl and alcohol found in his system.
The players testified that Kay was their source of oxycodone.
ESPN investigative reporter T.J. Quinn shared the testimony via social media from the courtroom.
Harvey was granted immunity for his testimony, and he admitted on the stand to using cocaine in the early years of his career — an admission he said he recognized could threaten his career.
He said he shared Percocet pills — a mix of oxycodone and acetaminophen — with Skaggs during the 2019 season, but that, otherwise, he believed Skaggs got them from Kay.
Harvey said he used the opioids in both the clubhouse and dugout. Skaggs, he said, told Harvey that he crushed the pills on the toilet paper dispenser in the clubhouse bathroom and snorted them.
Harvey didn’t accompany the team to Texas because of an injury, but he recounted how he had left a pill supplied by Kay in his locker in the Anaheim clubhouse before the team departed for the road trip. After Skaggs’ death, he retrieved it and disposed of it.
Harvey testified that oxycodone was prevalent among major leaguers then.
“In baseball you do everything you can to stay on the field,” he said.
Harvey pitched for the Baltimore Orioles last season and is a free agent. Bedrosian spent 2021 with three teams, most recently Philadelphia Phillies, and Cron was with the Colorado Rockies. Morin did not play last season.
–Field Level Media