Bio

Reign Letkeman enters his first year with the Grizzlies and fourth in professional baseball in 2019.

Letkeman, who turned 24 on May 12, was a 23rd-round pick of the Tampa Bay Rays in the 2015 MLB Draft out of Big Bend Community College in Moses Lake, Wash.

Letkeman pitched for the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League Rays in 2015, Rookie-level Princeton (W.V.) Rays in 2016, and briefly for the Short Season-A Hudson Valley (N.Y.) Renegades in 2017. He threw a combined 56 1/3 professional innings over parts of three seasons and, although he conceded 55 hits, did not allow a single home run.

In Princeton, Letkeman faced current Toronto Blue Jays third baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. when the young slugger was only 17 years old and at the beginning of his journey to the major leagues and becoming a cultural phenomenon. On July 13, 2016, at Bowen Field in Bluefield, Tenn., Letkeman faced Guerrero Jr. in the bottom of the fifth inning with a runner at second, one out, and Princeton ahead 2-1. The younger Vlad lined out to Princeton left fielder Ryan Calloway and Letkeman went on to get credit for the victory in an 8-3 Princeton triumph. Guerrero Jr. is 0-for-1 lifetime against Letkeman.

He was also teammates in Princeton with former Grizzlies reliever Austin Sweet and 2018 Frontier League All-Star outfielder Isaac Benard of the Traverse City Beach Bums.

Letkeman is from Red Deer, Alberta, Canada. His full name is Reign Henry Terrance Alexei Letkeman.