Skaggs’ mom: Knew about son’s addiction; wasn’t asked by Angels

SANTA ANA, Calif. – Debbie Hetman, the mother of deceased Los Angeles Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs and one of the plaintiffs in the family’s wrongful death civil lawsuit against the franchise, testified Monday that she did not know whether her son ever told the team about his drug addiction, but that the organization never asked her about it.

If the team had asked, Hetman said, she would have told the Angels he became addicted to Percocet after the 2013 season. She said her son came to her and asked for help. The Angels traded for Skaggs before the 2014 season.

The Angels have long said they were unaware of Skaggs’ drug problems, one of the main arguments made by the defense in the trial that entered its sixth week Monday. The Angels claim they are not responsible for Skaggs’ death, and it was his reckless decisions to mix alcohol and opioids that led to his death from an accidental fentanyl overdose in a Texas hotel room in 2019.

On Monday, the two lead plaintiffs in the case — Hetman and Skaggs’ widow, Carli Skaggs — gave emotional testimony.

Hetman explained how Skaggs came to her and her father-in-law after the 2013 season, when Skaggs was pitching in the Arizona Diamondbacks organization, and told them he was addicted to Percocet. They worked with Skaggs to consult with doctors and a psychiatrist experienced in addiction issues.

She said her son underwent drug testing — part of his medical plan and something his mother insisted on — until the following summer to ensure he remained clean. By then, he had been traded to the Angels. Hetman thought her son was fine after the 2013 admission because he looked more like himself than the “very moody and lost” person she saw after the 2013 season.

“As a parent, you want to make sure your child is on the right track,” Hetman testified. “And get healthy and not fall back into the same pattern of consumption.”

Hetman said she spoke with Dr. Neal ElAttrache, who performed Skaggs’ Tommy John surgery in 2014, about her son’s Percocet problem and wanted them to prescribe him different painkillers. She also told Skaggs’ agents about it and had a passing conversation with her then-girlfriend, Carli, about it.

Carli Skaggs said Monday that she has not inquired further with the family or her future husband. Carli Skaggs, the lead plaintiff in the case, denied knowing her husband had a drug problem or was taking illicit pills before his death in 2019. The only drugs she knew he was taking were marijuana and ecstasy on their honeymoon, she said.

In an uncomfortable cross-examination, the defense attorney asked Carli Skaggs if she thought her husband needed help with drug rehab. She said no. Carli Skaggs also testified that she thought it was out of character for Skaggs to request drugs from former communications employee Eric Kay after Kay left rehab in 2019.

Kay was convicted in federal court in 2022 of giving Skaggs the pill that killed him and is serving 22 years in prison. Several players testified during the criminal trial. Kay provided them with pills.

Carli Skaggs tearfully testified about her relationship with Skaggs, how she found out about his death and the six years since. Angels general manager Billy Eppler called to break the news.

“I don’t even know if I heard him say the words ‘he was gone,’ but that’s what I knew,” Carli Skaggs said. “And then I immediately called Debbie.”

She described the call as “the worst phone call I’ve ever made.” The family traveled to Texas, and Carli Skaggs described seeing her husband in the coroner’s office.

“I didn’t want to see him but I had to see him because I needed to know that it was real, that he was really gone,” Carli Skaggs said. “As painful as it was, I needed it. It was in this cold, white room and the love of my life, my best friend, he’s just lying there on a stretcher, lifeless, and I had just talked to him the day before.”

She said she wanted to give him one last kiss “even though I was scared.”

Six years later, she said, she still wonders “is this real?” She described her difficulties forming new relationships and seeing friends with children because it’s “a reminder of what I don’t have.”

In the final days before her father’s death last year, she said, Carli Skaggs held her hand while listening to testimony through headphones about her husband’s death.

The trial, she said, “consumed my life.”