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Pirates Sign Two Pitchers from India who have never played baseball before
By jarvis | November 24, 2008
OK, so Babu Bhat from Seinfeld hailed from Pakistan….but you get the idea. Pirates organization is a joke. Scouts who found these two gems added this little tidbit of info: “after they strike a batter out, they shout ‘THANK YOU, COME AGAIN’”
Pirates Sign Two Athletes From India Who Haven’t Played Baseball
PITTSBURGH (AP) — The Pittsburgh Pirates hope Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel really do have million-dollar arms.
The two 20-year-old pitchers, neither of whom had picked up a baseball until earlier this year, signed free-agent contracts Monday with the Pirates. They are believed to be the first athletes from India to sign professional baseball contracts outside their country.
Singh and Patel came to the United States six months ago after being the top finishers in an Indian reality TV show called the “Million Dollar Arm” that drew about 30,000 contestants. The show sought to find athletes who could throw strikes at 85 miles per hour or faster.
While neither pitcher threw hard enough to earn the $1 million prize, Singh made $100,000 from the contest and Patel made $2,500, plus his trip to the United States.
The contest was sponsored by a California sports management company that believed it could locate major league-worthy arms in a country of more than 1 billion. After working extensively with Southern California pitching coach Tom House since May, the pitchers staged a tryout in Tempe, Ariz., on Nov. 6 that was attended by 30 major league scouts.
“The Pirates are committed to creatively adding talent to our organization,” Pirates general manager Neal Huntington said Monday. “By adding these two young men, the Pirates are pleased to not only add two prospects to our system but also hope to open a pathway to an untapped market. We are intrigued by Patel’s arm strength and Singh’s frame and potential.”
Neither pitcher has taken the mound in a game situation, no doubt a first for a Pirates prospect. They have pitched in scrimmages against junior college competition.
Both threw the javelin in India, a country best known for producing cricket players, and neither the right-hander Patel nor the left-hander Singh had left his small village before coming to the United States. Singh was born in Bhadoni, Uttar Pradesh, and is the youngest of nine children. Patel is from Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, and has four brothers and sisters.
The 5-foot-11, 185-pound Patel hit 90 mph on the radar gun during his tryout, and the 6-2, 195-pound Singh topped out at 84 mph. Each has thrown harder during workout sessions that weren’t attended by scouts.
“Think of them as two Dominican kids,” House told the scouts. “They’re very raw. But I think this has a huge upside.”
When they first came to the United States and began playing catch, the pitchers were mystified by the concept of gloves and had to taught not to try to catch the ball with their bare hands.
Despite being more than raw, the pitchers were signed by well-known agent Jeff Borris, who was attracted by their potential after watching them work out at Southern Cal.
Borris estimates they will need three to four years of minor league experience before becoming major league ready.
Patel and Singh are learning English, most of which they have picked up from watching ESPN’s Baseball Tonight and by taking online classes.
“These young men have improved a tremendous amount in their six-month exposure to baseball and we look forward to helping them continue to fulfill their promise,” Huntington said.
The signings represent a shift in policy for the Pirates, who have mostly ignored nontraditional markets such as Asia for players.
Topics: Baseball, Pittsburgh Pirates | 9 Comments »
November 25th, 2008 at 9:09 am
Well…when what you are doing isn’t working, you need to look to change your approach.
Hmmm…
Not so sure this is the right approach either though.
November 25th, 2008 at 11:39 am
The pirates are working by the process of elimination. By 2310 they should have tried everything that doesn’t work and can then move onto a winning strategy.
November 25th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
Two guys from India are named Singh and Patel? I’m so shocked.
Meanwhile, here I though the winning strategy was spend whatever it takes to scout, draft and sign the best players. Nothing against these two guys, since all they did was take a job they were offered, but they are not the best players. The Pirates are just finding a more creative way to save money: by finding a country even more impoverished than Cuba and signing their prospects from there. Only they don’t play baseball in India, you idiots. At least Cubans are familiar with the damn fielder’s glove.
I’m done with the Pirates.
November 25th, 2008 at 4:48 pm
I don’t see how it can hurt. Of everyone baseball teams draft/sign, maybe 5% make the majors. Even a lot of 1st rounders never make it in the bigs. Other teams have been scouting and signing high upside players from Asia and South America for years. I’m sure very few make an impact, but some do, and the only way to find those ones is to sign players like this to cheap contracts. The management knows what it’s doing. Huntington and Connelly are making the right moves, and it will eventually pay dividends. There wouldn’t have been 30 scouts at their workouts if this was a joke. Give it a few years.
November 25th, 2008 at 6:17 pm
Although I like this move for personal reasons, it sounds more like a publicity stunt that ultimately won’t work. Besides, most people in the burgh have probably forgotten the Pirates exist any more.
November 25th, 2008 at 7:27 pm
This is low-risk, and the guys might turn out to be players.
Meanwhile, the Indian slurs and stereotypes here are pretty shocking really. What’s next? A PGH expose on Yao Ming’s slanted eyes and funny way of talking?
November 25th, 2008 at 8:38 pm
Jarvis, the author of this post is actually Indian. We’ll give him freedom to post what he wants. First post in ages and he ruffles feathers. good one :)
The PGH team consists of a bunch of white guys as well as 2 African Americans, a Chinese Guy, and one half black/half white guy and more.
I didn’t see any slurs either, unless “thank you come again” is a slur.
November 27th, 2008 at 3:10 am
well to be honest i did find ‘thank you come again’ as as a slur. Its been used against me a lot in my childhood years at an unnamed ultra wealthy suburb of Pittsburgh whos HS mascot is the same as one of our college…..
anyway. Yea I was offended until I found out the post was by an Indian and that PGH is indeed multicultural. I couldn’t care less now assuming you really are indian.
November 27th, 2008 at 4:05 am
a MTL Blue Devil or USC Panther I’m guessing?