Tampa Bay Rays: 23rd Rounder Reign Letkeman Has Big Curveball

Baseball helmet on shelf

Velocity is always going to be the first thing that teams look for in pitchers–you can teach secondary offerings, but it’s much more difficult to teach 95 MPH. Later in the draft, however, it is not as though all pitchers with fastballs in the 88-90 MPH range are the same. As teams scour the amateur ranks, they find players with exceptional command or a dominant offspeed pitch. You want to see one special thing–then, if you make everything else with the pitcher just passable, maybe that is enough for you to get a big league bullpen arm.

Reign Letkeman was drafted in the 23rd round by the Tampa Bay Rays, and there isn’t much of an argument that he should have been a top-10 rounds pick. His fastball tops out at 89 or 90 MPH, and though it features run and sink at times, he too often misses with it up in the zone. His changeup is a solid third pitch that can keep hitters off-balance, but it isn’t anything special. However, Letkeman’s curveball is the offering that gives him a chance to go somewhere as a professional pitcher.

Read the full article here.

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