ANAHEIM - A’s minor-leaguer Casey Thomas died on 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 at the time of his death and he had been playing in extended spring-training games there.
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 .