Make wishtv.com your home page

Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs dead at 27; found in hotel room

Los Angeles Angels starting pitcher Tyler Skaggs throws to the Oakland Athletics during the first inning of a baseball game Saturday, June 29, 2019, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Tyler Skaggs had persevered through injuries to be a valuable pitcher for the Los Angeles Angels.

The
left-hander had posted a photo of himself and teammates in cowboy hats
for their weeklong trip to Texas where he was set to start on the Fourth
of July holiday.

The 27-year-old pitcher died Monday, when he was
found unresponsive in his hotel room in Texas, stunning Major League
Baseball and leading to the postponement of Los Angeles’ series opener
against the Rangers.

Skaggs was “an important part of the Angels
Family,” the team said in a statement. “Our thoughts and prayers are
with his wife, Carli, and his entire family during this devastating
time.”

Police said they were investigating but that no foul play was suspected. Skaggs was pronounced dead at the scene.

Skaggs,
who would have turned 28 on July 13 and was married just seven months
ago, had been a regular in the Angels’ starting rotation since late
2016, when the left-hander returned from Tommy John surgery. He
struggled with injuries repeatedly in that time but was 7-7 in 15 starts this season to help an injury-plagued rotation.

In his cowboy-themed Instagram post
Sunday, Skaggs wrote “Howdy y’all” and made reference to the Texas trip
for games against the Rangers and the Houston Astros this weekend.

Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said he was “deeply saddened” by Skaggs’ death.

“We
will support the Angels’ organization through this most difficult
period, and we will make a variety of resources available to Tyler’s
teammates and other members of the baseball family,” Manfred said in a
statement.

At the team’s hotel about 20 miles from the ballpark,
All-Star center fielder Mike Trout was among players in the lobby and a
nearby patio before they all left together to go to another part of the
hotel. None of the players spoke to reporters, but Trout shared his thoughts on Twitter .

“Words
cannot express the deep sadness we feel right now. Our thoughts and
prayers are with Carli and their families. Remembering him as a great
teammate, friend, and person who will forever remain in our hearts… we
love you, 45,” Trout said in the post.

A fan with an Angels
jersey sat on a rock wall near the hotel entrance with a bouquet of
flowers attached to a balloon that read “thank you.”

Skaggs is the
first Angels player to die during a season since Nick Adenhart was
killed by a drunken driver 10 years ago. The 22-year-old rookie
right-hander was coming off his first start of the 2009 season, his
fourth career game in the big leagues.

Jose Fernandez, a two-time
All-Star pitcher for the Miami Marlins, was killed in a boating crash
near Miami Beach, Florida, in September 2016. He was 24.

Pitcher
Darryl Kile, who played in the majors for 12 seasons (1992-2002) was on
the road with the St. Louis Cardinals when he died in June 2002 in his
Chicago hotel room at age 33. Albert Pujols, now a member of the Angels,
was Kile’s teammate then.

The Angels clubhouse was never opened
to the media before players and coaches who had already arrived for
Monday night’s game left together to return to the hotel.

Texas general manager Jon Daniels and manager Chris Woodward told their players what had happened and dismissed them.

Woodward
described it as “one of those moments where you’re just kind of numb”
and said the Rangers were thinking about Skaggs’ family and the Angels
organization.

“There were a lot of pretty emotional guys in there,” Woodward said. “Some guys that didn’t even know him were visibly shaken.”

Rangers
officials said there had been no discussions on the status of Tuesday’s
game or the rest of what was supposed to be a four-game series. They
said only that Monday’s game would not be made up this week.

“Real life takes precedence here,” Daniels said. “Some things are a lot bigger than baseball.”

The Angels’ Triple-A team, the Salt Lake Bees, also postponed their scheduled game at Tacoma on Monday night.

Skaggs
was born in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Woodland Hills, in the far
western part of the sprawling San Fernando Valley. He graduated from
Santa Monica High School in 2009, when the Angels drafted him in the
first round.

The Angels traded Skaggs to Arizona in 2010, and he
started his big league career with 13 appearances over two seasons for
the Diamondbacks. The Angels reacquired him in December 2013, and he won
25 games over five seasons with the club.

Skaggs started a
career-high 24 games last season, going 8-10 with a 4.02 ERA. He missed
playing time in April this season with a sprained ankle but came back
strong.

Skaggs was part of the same Angels’ draft class as Trout,
and they were roommates in the low minor leagues before Skaggs was
traded to Arizona. They played on the same team in Cedar Rapids, Iowa,
in 2010.

Cleveland Indians pitcher Trevor Bauer, who played with
Skaggs in the Diamondbacks organization, tweeted: “We came up together.
We won together. We laughed and celebrated together. Today, we all lose
and mourn together.”

Skaggs’ mother, Debbie, was the longtime
softball coach at Santa Monica High School. She famously provided
postgame tips on his pitching mechanics, even deep into his big-league
career.

Skaggs grew up in Santa Monica, on the west side of the
sprawling Los Angeles metroplex, but rooted for the Angels instead of
the closer Dodgers.

___

AP Sports Writers Greg Beacham, Jay Cohen and Schuyler Dixon, and AP writer Terry Wallace in Dallas contributed to this report.