Twins pitcher Alex Speas, amid a comeback born on TikTok, aims for accuracy and a major league future

FORT MYERS, FLA. – When Jim Morris turned from a high school baseball coach into a major league pitcher after attending a Tampa Bay Devil Rays tryout, it resulted in a movie, “The Rookie,” and a book deal.

Alex Speas, who is in Twins camp as a nonroster invitee, might have the rights to the sequel.

Speas retired after the 2021 season, disappointed he didn’t meet expectations after he was a second-round pick in 2016. He coached Little League baseball in his hometown for a season, after he lasted three months working in a sales job. The kids he coached, knowing his background, begged to watch him pitch. When he finally relented, his first pitch was 97 mph without any warmup throws, which turned into a TikTok video that garnered more than 170,000 views.

Working around Little Leaguers who were excited to come to the field each day played a part in Speas returning to professional baseball in 2023. He started the season in Class AA and made his major league debut with the Texas Rangers four months later.

“When I started coaching, I wasn’t really at peace with myself as a player,” said Speas, a 6-3 righthander. “Coaching, I loved it, and I had fun doing it, but I didn’t feel like I left everything out there that I should have. I feel like I had some stuff to go back and get.”

Speas, who will turn 27 in March, is hoping to show he can stick in the big leagues. He throws 100 mph with a hard cutter and a slider. The issue is keeping those pitches in the strike zone. In Class AAA last year, he totaled 45 strikeouts and 43 walks in 29⅔ innings, leading to a 12.13 ERA.

His pitch mix, which garnered several swings and misses during a live batting practice session Tuesday at Twins camp, is the reason teams keep believing they can fix him. After he was designated for assignment by the Rangers at the end of the 2023 regular season, he was claimed off waivers or acquired via trade by the White Sox, Athletics, Astros and Red Sox over the past year.

“Really, as long as he’s around [the strike zone], he’s really tough,” said Twins utilityman Mickey Gasper, who caught Speas for the Red Sox’s AAA team in Worcester last year. “It’s electric stuff. He’s got a great head on his shoulders. Great teammate. I’m always rooting for him.”

Speas signed with the Twins on a minor league contract in November, crediting their communication with him. Twins bench coach Jayce Tingler was the Rangers’ field coordinator when he was drafted. He worked out in previous offseasons with Brock Stewart and Emilio Pagán, who talked up their experiences in the organization.

“It should be fun to see if he can hone in some things and take off,” Stewart said. “I think it’s similar to me. I took off in 2023 when I got comfortable and I was totally healthy with the Twins.”

When Speas walked away from baseball in 2021, after coming back from major elbow surgery to post an 11.15 ERA in 15 appearances, he was overwhelmed. He had a 2-year-old daughter, and he wanted to prioritize being around her.

“When you first have those experiences, you don’t know how to juggle them,” Speas said. “That was real tough for me. I just missed being home at some points.”

Last year didn’t go the way he wanted, but he knows he is where he wants to be.

“Coaching allowed me to realize, ‘Oh gosh, you can still play, and you still have a dream in that game,’ ” Speas said. “You might as well keep chasing it while you have that opportunity to play.”

Carlos Correa implemented a daily 20-minute routine to prevent plantar fasciitis from flaring up after pain in his heels affected his past two seasons.

“I’m going to do all the treatments I need to do in order for me to stay on the field every single day,” Correa said. “Whatever happens at the end of the day is not going to be a lack of effort.”

Correa played through his plantar fasciitis in 2023 and had the worst offensive season of his career. When pain surfaced in his opposite foot last year, after he made the All-Star team, he was limited to 86 games.

“It’s not only the plantar,” Correa said. “I have to take care of my Achilles, my calf, my hamstring and so on, all the way up to the kinetic chain. That’s something I’m focusing on. It takes a lot of time. It takes a lot of money and effort. At the same time, I want to be out there every single day this year.”

The Twins will have 17 spring training games available through their Twins.TV streaming platform, which are free to watch when registering for an account on the MLB app.

Five of the 17 televised Grapefruit League games will use Twins broadcasters. The other 12 games will carry the opposing team’s broadcast.

Fourteen spring training games will be carried on WCCO Radio (830 AM), and six more games will be broadcast through the radio app.