ARLINGTON, Texas — This time last year, Alex Speas was out of professional baseball and coaching in a youth league.
Now, he's a Texas Ranger with three strikeouts to his name and all three were against All-Stars.
Speas made his debut for the Rangers on Wednesday in their 5-1 win over the Tampa Bay Rays. Speas played a crucial role in the victory, entering the game in the seventh inning as Texas led 1-0 and the Rays had a runner on first base.
Speas, a hard-throwing right-hander, proceeded to strike out Rays star Wander Franco on a 92 mph cutter. Then catcher Jonah Heim threw out Tampa's Manuel Margot, who was trying to steal second base.
Speas returned in the eighth inning, with Texas leading 2-0. He struck out two more All-Stars in Yandy Diaz and Randy Arozarena, and he got Isaac Paredes to fly out to second base.
The Rangers extended their lead to 5-0 and finished off the Rays in the ninth. But it was Speas who got Texas through a late-game, high-leverage situation, a scenario the Rangers have struggled with mightily in 2023.
And it capped a notable journey to the big leagues.
Speas' 2023 journey would be impressive enough on its own: He started the season in Double-A Frisco, pitching to a sparkling 0.64 ERA with 47 strikeouts in 28.1 innings of relief. He got the promotion to Triple-A Round Rock and pitched just 7.2 innings before getting the call to the big leagues on Wednesday.
Speas' rapid ascent to the bigs in 2023 followed a year away from professional baseball in 2022, when he decided to coach youth baseball instead.
Speas was a second-round draft pick by the Rangers in 2016, but he battled injuries, including Tommy John surgery, and the 2020 minor-league season was canceled due to the pandemic. After struggling in Frisco in 2021, he stepped away from the game, according to the Associated Press.
“Being honest, fighting mental health sometimes is not the easiest thing to do. There’s some long nights, there’s some long days, and it’s a hard fight to get through it all,” he told reporters after Wednesday's game. “But glad we made it here. And I thank the organization for having trust in me and giving me the opportunity to come back and do this.”
Speas' role with the Rangers could be more than just a feel-good story. The club's bullpen has been inconsistent and in need of more hard-throwing options late in games. A trade for Aroldis Chapman solved some of that problem. And now Speas, at least through one outing, showed he could be a go-to option, as well.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
