A year ago, Rangers pitcher Alex Speas had put his professional baseball career behind him, transitioning to coaching youth baseball in North and South Carolina. On Wednesday, the sport’s winding path led Speas to the mound at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, where he made his MLB debut as the Rangers faced the Rays.
Within just six pitches, it was clear the moment was worth the wait.
With one out and Texas clinging to a 1-0 lead in the seventh inning, Speas struck out the first batter he faced—Tampa Bay’s star shortstop, Wander Franco—on a pitch that turned into a strikeout-caught stealing double play to end the inning. The moment was a culmination of Speas’s long road back to baseball after he quit back in 2021 after six years in the minor leagues.
A moment @alexjspeas will never forget! 🥹 pic.twitter.com/hEcE8k0LB0
— Texas Rangers (@Rangers) July 19, 2023
Speas, 25, was a second-round draft pick by Texas in 2016. He underwent Tommy John surgery in ’18 and returned to action the following year, though he cited the stresses that stemmed from surgery, the birth of his daughter in ’19 and the COVID-19 pandemic in ’20 as contributing factors that led to his decision to walk away from baseball.
“A lot of things came at once, and that led me into taking a year off,” Speas said, per Kevin Sherrington of The Dallas Morning News. “I wasn’t myself on the baseball field, so it was hard to want to be out there.”
Speas credited his stint coaching at a youth academy—where players ranged from age 9 to high school—for reigniting his passion for the game.
“Just seeing their joy for the game got me back to this point,” Speas said. “Just seeing the game from a different perspective, from the coaching side, and being around 9-year-olds and 11-year-olds and how much fun they have each and every day, which is the reason we play this game and why we love it.”
Speas threw a combined 36 innings across Double A and Triple A this season before his promotion, posting a 1.00 ERA with 59 strikeouts. He credits the time off for improving his mental health and positively impacting his perspective on the game and his career.
“I missed the game a lot, but I’m to the point now where I understand that mental health is stronger than anything, and mental health helps you to compete out here on the field each and every day.”
