In Memory of Tyler Skaggs: Always and Forever an Angel

The MLB debut of Tyler Wayne Skaggs couldn’t have gone any better for the young star. Skaggs was called up to make his debut August 22nd of 2012 and earned the win in his first MLB start, which came against the Miami Marlins, as he pitched 6.2 innings of 2 run ball. The rest of his season would be up and down with the Diamondbacks as his six MLB starts that year saw him perform to a 5.83 ERA in a total 29.1 IP. His only win that year would be in his debut start against the Marlins.

Tyler Skaggs was just 20 at the time of his first Major League looks and he didn’t spend too much time with the big league ball club. His 122.1 IP across Double and Triple A dwarfed his 29.1 MLB IP, his time within the Minors in 2012 saw him pitch to a 2.87 ERA in those 122.1 innings. Once again, Tyler Wayne Skaggs was named to the Futures Game and became just one of five future MLB talents to appear in the game for a second year straight alongside Nolan Arenado, Jurikson Profar, Wil Myers, and Manny Machado. Skaggs would continue to exist in the top class of athlete for the rest of his career.

2013 saw Skaggs struggle in the Majors once more as he pitched 32.2 innings of 5.12 ERA baseball with a record of 2 wins and 3 losses. His time in the Minors that year didn’t fare any better as Skaggs pitched 109.2 innings across Triple A and Class A Advanced and perform to a 4.60 ERA over the season. After putting up two star-studded years with the Diamondbacks Skaggs had hit a learning curve, and though it looked like opportunities were getting more difficult to grasp somewhere there was something even greater waiting in wings for him.

At the age of 21, on December 10th of 2013, Tyler Skaggs was traded for the second time in his young career in what seemed to be a stroke of circumstance. The General Manager of the Diamondbacks who traded for Skaggs in 2010, Jerry Dipoto, was now the General Manager for the Angels. Dipoto, being aware of the true talent of potential within Skaggs, decided to bring him back under his wing and swing a three team trade that saw the Angels trade Mark Trumbo and A.J Shugel to the Diamondbacks for Tyler Skaggs.

Some would call Dipotos hiring by the Angels and affinity for Tyler Skaggs circumstantial happenings which brought Skaggs over to the Halos, but the truth is that his status as an Angel was always meant to be. As I said before; an Angel at birth, an Angel in life, and an Angel for eternity.