Round Rock RHP Alex Speas Promoted to Texas

ROUND ROCK, Texas – Welcome to The Show, Alex! The Texas Rangers announced that the club selected the contract of Round Rock Express RHP Alex Speas on Wednesday morning. Speas will be active today out of the Rangers bullpen at Globe Life Field against the Tampa Bay Rays. First pitch is scheduled for 1:05 p.m. CT.

Speas was promoted to Round Rock on June 28 and made his Triple-A debut on June 30 in Las Vegas. The right-hander appeared in five games with the E-Train and went 1-0 with a 2.35 ERA (2 ER/7.2 IP). He allowed seven hits with two walks and 12 strikeouts.

In his Express debut against the Aviators, the righty went 2.0 innings of scoreless baseball with three hits and one strikeout. He went on to make his Dell Diamond debut on July 7 against the Sugar Land Space Cowboys and tossed 1.1 innings with one hit, one walk and two strikeouts as Round Rock collected a 9-1 victory while limiting Sugar Land to only four hits.

Speas has been named the Texas Rangers Minor League Reliever of the Month for each of the last two months. He was scoreless in 14.0 innings across nine relief outings in June between Double-A Frisco and Round Rock. During those nine games in June, he held opponents to a .149 (7-47) batting average and fanned 22 of 51 (43.1%) of the batters he faced last month. He has combined to go 3-0 with two saves and a 1.00 ERA (4 ER/36.0 IP) over 28 relief outings this season across the Double-A and Triple-A levels.

Speas, a native of Powder Springs, Georgia, was originally a second-round selection by the Rangers in the 2016 MLB Draft out of McEachern High School. He walked away from the game of baseball in 2022 and took a high school coaching job in North Carolina before deciding to return to professional baseball in 2023.

Round Rock returns to take on the Reno Aces (Arizona Diamondbacks affiliate) tonight from Dell Diamond. Express RHP Yerry Rodriguez (1-0, 4.39) is set to make the start against Aces RHP Peter Solomon (0-2, 11.45). First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. CT.

For more information about the Express, visit RRExpress.com or call (512) 255-2255. Subscribe to the E-Train email newsletter and keep up with the Express on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter!