Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs passes away

[Jopal78]

The Angels just announced he has died.

[KeithStone53151]

I can't find any details. Seems crazy, how sad. Only 27 and just got married in the offseason.

[adambr2]

Just awful. Obviously it doesn't really make it any less tragic, and I don't even want to speculate, but to lose a guy so young, seemingly healthy, you wonder, what the heck happened?

[Brew crew 92]

Police found him unresponsive in his hotel room. No foul play is suspected.

[homer]

Really sad. I wonder if he just had some kind of undiagnosed heart issue?

[nate82]

Going to go with something heart related but very sad to hear. A lot of athletes lately have been diagnosed with irregular heart problems. Could be anything from a birth defect to possibly some supplements they are taking (not PED's).

[Jenkins5]

When I went back to grad school for teaching, I meet a fellow coach & he told me about his older brother who died at 28 in the gym working out. He was an Olympic qualifier for the Irish National Wrestling Team. Was as fit as they come. Would never have seen it coming but suffered a fatal heart attack. Heart disease is scary. Almost no real symptoms until it is too late.

 

Like others have said, hate to speculate what happened since there is very little information out. That’s two younger pitchers they lost now. Tough for the franchise to go through again. Prayers out to his family

[Lathund]

Terrible news.

 

While I have absolutely no idea about the cause of death, I know that the deaths I remember from soccer players in the past were due to Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which got a lot of attention (and I believe led to better screening procedures) after two high-profile deaths during games about 15 years ago; Marc-Vivien Foé during the Confederations Cup semi-final, a game broadcast around the world. And just a few months later Miklos Feher during a game in the Portuguese league. I remember it so well because at the time I hadn't really heard of anything like it, a 24 and 28 year old, in peak physical form, who just die like that. And in similar circumstances to todays tragic event, Fiorentina captain Davide Astori was found dead in his hotel room prior to a game last year.

[JosephC]

Sad news. May he rest in peace.

[Eye Black]

I don’t have much to add other than MLB Network Radio replayed a recent interview with Tyler and it was joy to listen to while being heartbreaking at the same time. A friend of mine works for the Angels, I can’t imagine what the team and staff will be going through over the coming days and weeks.

 

Edit: Tyler was one of the participants in the California Strong celebrity softball game this past winter with Braun, Moustakas, and Yelich (photo link).

[homer]

I can't believe it's been over 10 years since Nick Adenhart died.

[JohnBriggs12]

My first thought that it perhaps was a brain aneurysm or a heart issue. It's pretty rare that young people just drop dead like that, though it happens. We all remember Daryl Kile too.

[OnTheBlack]

Really sad. I wonder if he just had some kind of undiagnosed heart issue?

 

This is what I always go to. I was playing some tennis this past year and collapsed. Never had any health issues that I'd known of. I'd always get these periods where my heart would be really fast for 30 seconds or so and I'd ask people if they had the same and almost everyone said they did. Well, it turns out mine was worse. I'd played sports my whole life. Had physicals for HS and College sports and it was never detected.

 

I was lucky, I take a pill now and I'm fine. But I hear about guys who aren't so lucky and it's just heart breaking. 27, great life, just married.

 

It's just crazy how these things can happen. Of course this could have been anything, he could have gotten hit with a ground ball, developed a blood clot. Whatever it was, it's pretty devastating.

[OnTheBlack]

I can't believe it's been over 10 years since Nick Adenhart died.

 

The Angels seems to particularly unlucky. Lyman Bostock was a long time ago, but a tragic death, a 22 year old young phenom and a 27 year old just during the Trout years.

 

It's sad if you're doing something stupid and something happens, but it's all that much more tragic when you're not doing anything wrong and tragedy hits.

[DHonks]

It's sad if you're doing something stupid and something happens, but it's all that much more tragic when you're not doing anything wrong and tragedy hits.

 

Do we know this is the case here? To me, no foul play implies no signs of outside influence. It also wouldn't be suicide, or that would have been reported. It could be a fluke heart condition, aneurism, sleep apnea, food poisoning, or other undetected issue. It could also be drug-related. Regardless, it's a terrible tragedy.

[adambr2]

We don't know what happened. What has been reported is that there's no foul play suspected and it wasn't suicide. That's all that's been reported as far as I know.

[nodakfan17]

The Santa Monica Observer was apparently prepared to run a story suggesting Tyler Skaggs died of an opioid overdose, but pulled it before it was published due to threats from local police and the Angels organization.

[Eye Black]

The Santa Monica Observer was apparently prepared to run a story suggesting Tyler Skaggs died of an opioid overdose, but pulled it before it was published due to threats from local police and the Angels organization.

It was posted online last week before being pulled. It didn’t suggest they had any type of inside knowledge whatsoever, they were speculating on reasons why young people can pass away. It was very reckless as well as bizarrely worded/written.

[RollieTime]

The Angels honored Tyler Skaggs before the game tonight in their first home game since he passed away. With all of the players on the Angels wearing Tyler’s name and number on the back of their jersey’s, they threw a combined no hitter. Very special moment tonight for the Angels organization, the Skaggs family, and baseball fans all across the sport. What a truly spectacular moment.

[rondoman]

The Angels honored Tyler Skaggs before the game tonight in their first home game since he passed away. With all of the players on the Angels wearing Tyler’s name and number on the back of their jersey’s, they threw a combined no hitter. Very special moment tonight for the Angels organization, the Skaggs family, and baseball fans all across the sport. What a truly spectacular moment.

 

Yep! His mom threw out the first pitch too.

[RollieTime]

The Angels honored Tyler Skaggs before the game tonight in their first home game since he passed away. With all of the players on the Angels wearing Tyler’s name and number on the back of their jersey’s, they threw a combined no hitter. Very special moment tonight for the Angels organization, the Skaggs family, and baseball fans all across the sport. What a truly spectacular moment.

 

Yep! His mom threw out the first pitch too.

 

Very cool! And after celebrating the no hitter, all of the Angels players took their jersey’s off and placed them on the mound to honor Skaggs. What a special night for that organization!

[pitchleague]

I was watching a movie and started getting messages from the at bat app telling me about the no-hitter. So when the ninth came on I HAD to turn it on and it was awesome to see. I am very glad that I watched. Mike Trout could barely get through his interview with MLB Network and the girl that was interviewing him barely made it through, as well. I thought it was really awesome.

 

As they said, you just can’t make this stuff up. It was a fairytale ending and I totally could expect to see a movie made out of it.

[Lathund]

This is also an occasion where a combined no-hitter is more meaningful than just one pitcher doing it, as it makes it about the team. This was #45 throwing a no-hitter.

[Invader3K]

Very sad to see someone so young suddenly pass away unexpectedly. I read an article that said foul play and suicide had been ruled out.

 

As far as announcing a cause of death, it's a tricky conversation. On one hand, an MLB player is a public figure, and the public arguably has a right to know what happened. At the same time, one has to respect the privacy and wishes of the family.

[Eye Black]