Skaggs, a fellow pitcher, was found dead in 2019 in a Texas hotel room near where the Angels were set to take on the host Rangers. Officials subsequently determined he choked on his own vomit while intoxicated on a combination of opioids, including oxycodone and fentanyl, and alcohol. After a federal trial this year — at which Harvey testified under an immunity deal — former Angels communications director Eric Kay was found guilty of providing Skaggs with the drugs that led to the death of the 27-year-old.
Harvey, now 33, acknowledged during the trial that he had a “history” of partying during his career, including cocaine use, and that it was not uncommon for him and other Angels players to take oxycodone and occasionally provide it to one another. The 2019 season was the only one he spent as a member of the Angels, following several years with the New York Mets and a brief stint with the Cincinnati Reds.
Following his release from the Angels in July 2019, a few weeks after Skaggs’s death, Harvey signed a minor league deal with the Oakland Athletics. He joined the Kansas City Royals in 2020 on a similar deal and made four major league starts, then became a regular last season in the Orioles’ rotation.
Although he notched a 6.27 ERA for Baltimore, Harvey finished second on the team in innings and provided experience on an otherwise young staff. The Orioles brought Harvey back in April on a minor league deal, and he has been working out at the team’s extended spring training facility in Sarasota, Fla.
“We support all aspects of MLB’s Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program and their ruling in this particular case,” Orioles General Manager Mike Elias said Tuesday in a statement. “I am glad that Matt now has the opportunity to put this part of his past behind him and pursue another shot with our organization after serving his suspension.”
A first-round pick by the Mets in 2010 out of the University of North Carolina, Harvey made an impressive major league debut in 2012 and earned an all-star selection the following season, during which he posted a 2.27 ERA in 26 starts, with 191 strikeouts and 31 walks. Harvey sat out 2014 after undergoing Tommy John surgery, then posted a 2.71 ERA in 2015 while helping the Mets reach the World Series. Midway through the 2016 campaign, Harvey underwent a season-ending procedure to correct thoracic outlet syndrome, and he has not been the same pitcher since. While bouncing around the majors from 2017 through 2021, Harvey has accumulated a 6.15 ERA over 98 appearances.
When Baltimore re-signed Harvey in April, Elias said it was “a very unique situation right now with everything that he was involved in that came to light over the winter.”
“He’s in the situation that he’s in right now because of off-the-field things,” the general manager added at the time, “but getting to know him last year, understanding his approach to what’s going on, our point of view is that this was something that shouldn’t prevent him from having another chance in this organization, especially with the way he conducted himself last year. … I know his stat line wasn’t the prettiest, but the innings that he threw, the luck that he had and — I think, most importantly for us — the pro and the teammate that he was, helping us get through a very difficult season, was something that we wanted back.”
MLB also announced Tuesday that Milwaukee Brewers pitcher J.C. Mejía received an 80-game suspension after testing positive for stanozolol, a synthetic steroid. Mejía, 25, is the second Milwaukee player to receive that punishment this season, following catcher Pedro Severino, who tested positive for performance-enhancing substance clomiphene.
