Casey Thomas' accidental death

A’s minor-leaguer Casey Thomas died May 1 of accidental fentanyl intoxication, according to the medical examiner in Maricopa County, Ariz.
Fentanyl is a powerful opiate painkiller considered 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine; Prince died of an accidental fentanyl overdose in 2016.
Thomas, 24, was assigned to the A’s minor-league facility in Mesa, Ariz., at the time of his death and he had been playing in extended spring-training games there.
Oakland outfielder Jaycob Brugman, who went to high school in Phoenix with Thomas, was delighted to reconnect with him there, and he said Friday, “Casey was there when I was rehabbing, so we got to spend a lot of time together. It was a surprise — he was so happy, doing his thing, playing baseball, and all of a sudden, he’s gone. Obviously, no one expected it. It was a tragic, shocking thing, but I can say he was in good spirits. We hung out a little bit, went out to dinner a couple of days before.”
Brugman said Thomas was not on a rehab assignment for any injury. “We had some fun, we had some laughs,” Brugman said. “Casey was awesome, really funny, always joking around. It was nice to be around him — if you were down or sad, he’d always say something to make you happy. That’s the kind of person he was.”



Brugman said Thomas was not on a rehab assignment for any injury. “We had some fun, we had some laughs,” Brugman said. “Casey was awesome, really funny, always joking around. It was nice to be around him — if you were down or sad, he’d always say something to make you happy. That’s the kind of person he was.”

The son of A’s scout Tom Thomas, Casey Thomas was a 34th-round draft pick out of Texas A&M Corpus Christi in 2016; he hit .258 with 18 RBIs in 37 games in the Arizona rookie league last season.
Another A’s minor-leaguer, Triple-A pitcher Sean Murphy, died of an undetected heart condition on April 25, 2016.
Transaction: The A’s claimed catcher Dustin Garneau from the Rockies but have yet to provide Garneau with an assignment — often an indication that a team is waiting for the new player to arrive. That suggests the A’s expect Garneau on Saturday; catcher Ryan Lavarnaway likely would be designated for assignment if so.
Garneau, 29, was Khris Davis’ teammate at Cal State Fullerton and, Davis said, ”He plays the game the right way. Dustin’s my boy.”