Tyler Skaggs death: Former LA Angels employee charged over pitcher's opioid overdose

Player was found with fentanyl, ethanol and oxycodone in his system when he died

A former Los Angeles Angels employee has been criminally charged for allegedly providing pitcher Tyler Skaggs with the drugs that killed him last year, according to officials.

Eric Prescott Kay, the former director of communications for the Angels, has been charged with illegal possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance according to a complaint brought against him by the US Drug Enforcement Administration.

Skaggs ingested a mixture of opioids and alcohol before choking to death on his own vomit. He was found to have had ethanol, fentanyl and oxycodone by Tarrant County deputy chief medical examiner Dr Marc Krouse.

He was found dead in his hotel room on 1 July when the team was in Dallas to play the Texas Rangers.

Court records included text messages between Mr Kay and Skaggs in which the pitcher asked him to bring pills to his hotel room.

Skaggs was born in California and raised in Santa Monica.

He began his major league career with the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2012, but was traded to the Angels a year later.

At the time of his death, the team released a statement that said "Tyler was and always will be a beloved member of the Angels family".

The team's general manager Billy Eppler said during a press conference shortly after Skaggs was found dead that the circumstances surrounding his death did not change the team's regret over losing him.

"We miss Tyler every day. That clubhouse misses him every day," Mr Eppler said. "We miss him in our lives and we pray for him, and we pray for his family every day. Nothing that we learned today changes those feelings. Not one thing."