ARLINGTON -- Last summer, Alex Speas was coaching youth baseball in the Carolinas.

A 2016 second-round Draft selection by the Rangers, Speas retired from baseball altogether following the ¡¯21 season and decided to focus on his mental health and his family. But heading into Spring Training this year, he decided to try to give baseball one last shot.

¡°I would say, to be honest, fighting mental health sometimes is not the easiest thing to do,¡± Speas said. ¡°There's some long nights, there's long days and it's a hard fight to get through it all, but I¡¯m glad we made it here. I thank the organization for having trusted me and giving me the opportunity to come back and do this.¡±

Now with a clear mind, Speas felt ready to compete.

It has more than worked out. In the Minors this year, Speas posted a 1.00 ERA between Double-A Frisco and Triple-A Round Rock in 36 innings, averaging 14.8 strikeouts per nine innings (59 K¡¯s) while allowing just one home run.

He earned his way to Arlington on Wednesday to make his MLB debut against the Rays. The right-hander pitched 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief with three strikeouts as Texas completed a three-game sweep over Tampa Bay with a 5-1 victory at Globe Life Field to extend its winning streak to six.

The 6-foot-3 Speas struck out three All-Stars -- Wander Franco, Yandy D¨ªaz and Randy Arozarena -- in his debut outing. With the Rangers clinging to a 1-0 lead in the seventh, Speas was called on to replace Brock Burke with a runner on first and one out. His first big league strikeout was a swinging K against Franco, and catcher Jonah Heim threw out Manuel Margot trying to steal second for a double play to end the inning. Speas then worked a 1-2-3 eighth on 13 pitches.

¡°I didn't even know I was facing Wander Franco, to be honest,¡± Speas joked. ¡°I was more in the moment of just being myself. Shout out to Jonah back there. He called a great game for me. We were on the same page from the beginning. He's basically showing why he was an All-Star. That's why he does what he does.

¡°It's a blessing at the end of the day. I¡¯m thankful for every opportunity, and I¡¯m glad to be here at this point. But the work continues on.¡±

Speas emphasized just how much being in a good mental headspace has helped him succeed this season. From Tommy John surgery in 2018 to the birth of his daughter in ¡¯19 and the pandemic affecting the Minors in 2020-21, it was a mental grind each and every day.

Once he got himself mentally right, he felt like he could help the Rangers¡¯ organization again.

¡°I missed the game a lot,¡± Speas said pregame. ¡°But I'm to the point now that I understand that mental health is stronger than anything. Having that mental health helps you compete out here on the field each and every day.

¡°A lot of things that came at once and led me into a year of just taking it off. I wasn't myself on a baseball field. So it was hard to do. I wanted to be out helping this team and organization win, but that was the best thing for me to do at the time. A year later after coaching and being around younger athletes and players and just seeing the joy for the game, it got me back to this point.¡±

And coaching those kids at Legacy Baseball in North Carolina and South Carolina during his time off helped him more than he could have imagined.

¡°I was just seeing the game from a different perspective from the coaching side,¡± Speas said. ¡°Just being around 9-year-olds and 11-year-olds and seeing how much fun they have each and every day, that¡¯s the reason why we play this game and why we love it.¡±

Rangers manager Bruce Bochy knows a little bit about taking a break and missing the game. And while it wasn¡¯t the same situation, they¡¯re both stories about guys loving the game of baseball.

Bochy joked that he learned the same thing while coaching his grandkids¡¯ T-ball team during his brief retirement.

¡°I'm just now getting to know him, but I think taking some time off did a lot for his perspective on the game,¡± Bochy said. ¡°[The game], it¡¯s not everything. It's not your sense of significance. So he just seems like he's in a really good place. I told him when he came in there: ¡®This is what you came back for, kid. Have some fun with it.¡¯¡±