'A Joy to Be Around:' Tyler Skaggs' Death Leaves MLB Stunned, Reflective

There is no comfort. Not when tragedy pushes its way into the middle of a Monday afternoon in Texas and seizes a young pitcher in the prime of his career, a son, a husband, a friend and a teammate.

Tyler Skaggs was all those things—not in that order, not even close. We frame it that way, of course, because he was a Los Angeles Angel and there was a game to play Monday night and it's the middle of summer and baseball was his job. He was good at it, worked as hard as anybody to be better, kept pushing the boulder up the mountain the way baseball players do. Now, there is only emptiness and tears.

Nobody should die in a hotel room on the road, and no organization should have to go through what the Angels are going through for the second time in a decade. Ten years ago this past April, starting pitcher Nick Adenhart died in a horrific auto crash (the vehicle in which he was riding was hit by a drunk driver). Now the organization is grieving, again, and its fans are leaving bouquets of flowers and other tributes to another fallen Angel, again. On Monday, police found Skaggs' body in a Southlake, Texas, hotel room. Neither suicide nor foul play was suspected as the cause, according to police, who added they were still investigating what happened.

Skaggs, 27, was smart, passionate and thoughtful. He married in December, to Carli. He was the son of a longtime physical fitness teacher and softball coach at Santa Monica (California) High School, Debbie.

He was a workhorse starter who led Angels pitchers with 79.2 innings this season, a left-hander who showed flashes of brilliance with his 78 strikeouts against 28 walks, a competitor who snarled at manager Brad Ausmus to leave him in the damn game. Same as he did, in a different way, with former Angels manager Mike Scioscia.

"He was a joy to be around," Ian Kinsler, the former Angels second baseman now with San Diego, said. "As a teammate, he fit right in with everyone else. He was one of the boys.

"He was fiery. He could cut guys up pretty easily. He could also take it. He was engaged in conversations. He was thoughtful."

Kinsler spoke with his friend and former teammate, Angels left fielder Justin Upton, by phone Monday afternoon shortly after hearing the news. Neither of them could fully absorb it.

Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press

"I told him to take a deep breath and I'd talk to him soon," Kinsler said.

There are no reasons. There can't be, can there? Too often we are reminded to enjoy every little, precious moment because you just never know. And then, just when we stray too far from that and get caught up in our little dramas again, life sends yet another horrible reminder of its fragility.

Sports is supposed to be an escape, and yet, in baseball's small corner of the world, like everywhere else, there is no escaping. The Miami Marlins' Jose Fernandez died just a few years ago. The Kansas City Royals' Yordano Ventura died not long after. Tragic reminders to hug your parents, tell your kids you love them, embrace your friends.

"It affects everybody," said Eric Hosmer, San Diego's first baseman who was with Kansas City and went to the Dominican Republic as part of the Royals' traveling party after Ventura's death. "All of baseball. Everybody. The world.

"I can relate to [the Angels]. I know exactly what they're feeling. There's nothing you can say or do. You're praying for him, his family and his loved ones."

Skaggs was an Angels first-round pick in 2009, 40th overall, coming into the organization the same time Mike Trout did. They traded Skaggs to Arizona in 2010 and reacquired him from the Diamondbacks in 2013. From then until now, he had battled back from Tommy John surgery, overcome biceps tendinitis and a strained oblique. Last season, he was sidelined three different times with muscle injuries.

At the suggestion of his agent, he traveled to Florida this offseason to work with a strength coach who specializes in flexibility and corrective exercise. He knew he needed to get more limber. He knew there was still plenty of untapped potential.

This year, he was beginning to tap it. He was 7-7 with a 4.29 ERA, not Cy Young Award material yet, but you could see things coming together. There was joy in his spirit, life in his eyes.

A few weeks back while I was working on a story on his draft-class buddy Trout, Skaggs was recounting the January 2018 NFC Championship Game between his beloved Minnesota Vikings and Trout's Philadelphia Eagles.

"He knows I'm a Vikings fan, and we were actually FaceTiming when the Vikings made the miraculous comeback against the Saints, and he told me, 'I actually have an extra ticket if you want to come out for the playoff game,'" Skaggs said. "And I said, 'Of course, that's a once-in-a-lifetime thing, one game away from the Super Bowl.'

"So I went out and watched the game, and unfortunately his team dominated mine [38-7], so I got a lot of s--t for it. But it was a great time, one of those moments in my life when I wish my team would have won, but I cherish that moment."

Just as the Angels and others who knew him are now left with nothing more than to cherish their moments with Skaggs.

"He loved underground rap music," Kinsler said. "He was in the rap game, big. He loved rap music, and he loved shredding on other guys' music because his was the best.

Paul Sancya/Associated Press

"That was the running joke with everyone. And he had a different vocabulary [because of the rap lyrics]. He'd throw some slang at you, and you had to ask him what he meant."

For a brief moment, that memory caused the hint of a smile to cross Kinsler's face. Then just as quickly, it disappeared. There was no game in Texas on Monday night, a postponement made by the league in light of Skaggs' death. And the games that were played paused for a deep breath and a moment of silence.

"Nothing you can say or do is comforting in this situation," Kinsler continued. "You just give hugs."

Scott Miller covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report. Follow Scott on Twitter and talk baseball.