Pittsburgh signs Rinku Singh, Dinesh Patel

by drjayphd on Nov 24, 2008 7:55 PM EST Comment 50 comments

An AP story just came across the wire about the Pirates signing Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel. Who are these guys, you're asking? Good question...

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 sports 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 show was sponsored by a sports management agency, under the principle that someone in a country of India's size has to have an MLB-caliber arm. No word yet on if Patel (5-11, 185 lbs, RHP) or Singh (6-2, 195, LHP) are those players, but Patel hit 90 MPH in tryouts, while Singh topped out at 84. Neither of them have been in game situations, but they've scrimmaged against juco teams. Holy untapped markets, John.

source: ESPN

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There's raw..

..and then there’s kids who have never pitched in a game before..

“When they first came to the United States and began playing catch, the pitchers were mystified by the concept of gloves and had to be taught not to try to catch the ball with their bare hands.”

^from the same story.

I guess this could be a good step for the Pirates if they think there’s a lot of Indian potential to be tapped into, but right now, doesn’t anybody else find this kind of laughable?

by jseiner on Nov 24, 2008 8:09 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Funnier still that it's a National League team signing them.

Can you imagine a guy who with ZERO experience hitting a baseball stepping in against a major-league pitcher?

by DrunkIrish on Nov 24, 2008 8:30 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

A couple of things

First of all, of course they won’t be put in the majors immediately. Second, though they haven’t played baeball, they have played cricket probably, so the concept of a ball coming towards them very fast won’t be especially foreign to them

TheSouthWing.com - A Magazine of essays, prose and poems

by OldProspects on Nov 24, 2008 9:08 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

economics

I bet there’s alot of undrafted college seniors muttering to themselves that they, too, top out at 84 or 90 and have, you know, faced guys higher than JUCO-level.

As you said, though, it could opne the gates for future Indian stars.

by El Duq of Hurl on Nov 24, 2008 9:41 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Except they've been playing their whole lives and only topped out at that

These guys have been playing for just a few weeks. Presumably the Pirates think that with some coaching, they might go much further. They’re at least willing to pay some money to find out

TheSouthWing.com - A Magazine of essays, prose and poems

by OldProspects on Nov 24, 2008 10:00 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

It's different

if someone with no training throws 84 as opposed to someone who’s been pitching for years. Throw in proper mechanics, and the velocity probably increases pretty significantly.

Vogt early, Vogt often.

by Brickhaus on Nov 25, 2008 9:53 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

i don't need no stinking glove

i remember when my brother was trying out for baseball in high school there was a jamaican exchange student who had played cricked his whole life who thought it would be a good idea. the kid had never seen a glove before and eventually got so frustrated with it that he would toss it aside before catching flyballs with his bare hands.

i think it would be pretty funny if a pitcher tried to do that

by ajake57 on Nov 24, 2008 9:48 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

i played with an aussie guy who would do the same thing

hardly ever missed a ball………and his swing was something else – complete upper cut due to the cricket background

by Wheelhouse on Nov 24, 2008 11:20 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

RE

as did I, but a British Virgin Island guy that played Cricket. He was an exchange student for his senior year. Huge kid, he looked like Karl Malone. Tried playing CATCHER bare handed! For his safety they only let him tryout in the OF. Ridiculous uppercut swing. We all got a good laugh when we saw him taking his practice cuts…. wouldn’t you know though, the first pitch he saw in tryouts he uppercutted about 400 feet over the opporsite field wall! I don’t think he maid contact again that day, but for the split second we that guy had us floored

by ScottAZ on Nov 25, 2008 11:23 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

This is nothing but a good move..

Very little risk (see: none)

The chances of either of them reaching the majors is basically nil, but India has over 1.1 billion people, and chances are this will only increase baseball’s popularity in India. Eventually there will be more indian’s capable of throwing the ball hard enough, and eventually some will even turn their cricket batting skills to baseball.

Who do you think they’ll want to sign with? My guess is it gives the pirates a better shot than they would have had without signing them.

by spoondoggie on Nov 24, 2008 8:43 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

White Sox

by mrkupe on Nov 24, 2008 8:53 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah I could see this having a mild Clemente like effect, where a lot of latinos became Pirate fans because Clemente was there, but I don’t know how much of an effect two guys who probably won’t get passed A ball can have.

Who knows though? Didn’t India have a good team in the Little League World Series last year or two years ago or something?

by jseiner on Nov 24, 2008 8:59 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

re

the general pop of India probably knows so little about baseball that they don’t know the difference between A ball and the MLB. All they know is two of their own signed to play pro baseball in America.

This is a good move, I wouldn’t be suprised to see MLB start an academy of some sort there

by ScottAZ on Nov 25, 2008 11:58 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Being from cricket

They probably throw some nasty splitters :P

by RollingWave on Nov 24, 2008 9:18 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

I've thought this for a long time

The mechanics of cricket are similar enough to baseball, and there are enough English-speakers in India, that I’m surprised nobody has set up an academy there.

Vogt early, Vogt often.

by Brickhaus on Nov 24, 2008 9:34 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

And they can't be worse than the Pirates' other high draft picks

They’re almost guaranteed to have a major league career no worse than Bryan Bullington, John Van Benschoten, Bobby Bradley, Clint Johnston…

http://www.chop-n-change.com

by alexwithclass on Nov 24, 2008 9:58 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

LOL

by daveh33 on Nov 25, 2008 12:43 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Hey, it's probably worth it as a publicity stunt, if nothing else

Your 2008 Athletics: It's Nothing Personal.

by PaulThomas on Nov 24, 2008 10:01 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Yeah

This is much better than drafting Matt Wieters.

by Daniel Plainview on Nov 24, 2008 10:07 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

That one hurts…

by jseiner on Nov 24, 2008 10:16 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

+1

1941 .406

by FrozenTed9 on Nov 24, 2008 10:54 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

>=(

Thanks for bringing that up

Go Pirates!!!

by cool hand Charlie on Nov 25, 2008 7:50 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

not to toot my own horn, but...

http://www.christiangalvin.com/1/post/2008/08/with-the-first-pick-in-the-2020-major-league-baseball-draft.html

Looks like I picked the wrong organization, but at least it was an NL team.

ProspectTube.com

You Video. You Scout.

by ProspectTube.com on Nov 24, 2008 10:45 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Seems like every Indian has the last name Patel

I see the future, and it is Pablo

by CB30 on Nov 25, 2008 12:06 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

way to go pirates

you are about to ruin the lives of more young men

by IHateMitchMustain on Nov 25, 2008 12:41 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

this has "Major League IV" written all over it.

I’m sure Kumar would be available

by daveh33 on Nov 25, 2008 12:46 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

He's on

house now. Playing a doctor.

1941 .406

by FrozenTed9 on Nov 25, 2008 12:49 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

really?

wow, haha

by daveh33 on Nov 25, 2008 4:15 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

He actually...

has a pretty decent imdb resume. I’ve never seen it, but I hear The Namesake is a very good movie.

"My mom always taught me it's better to laugh at yourself than to laugh at others. She was so wrong. ;)" -Pedrophile

by Boxkutter on Nov 25, 2008 6:02 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

The harold guy

was a patient once too there must be a shared producer or something.

1941 .406

by FrozenTed9 on Nov 25, 2008 10:56 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Slovakian javelin player

Can’t remember his name, but it was a few years ago. They put him at home plate in some MLB park and he threw the ball over the OF fence.

Apparently it did not translate into mound brilliance, because I never heard more about it. But that must have really gotten the scouts fired up.

by siddfynch on Nov 25, 2008 1:04 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

thats incredible

by daveh33 on Nov 25, 2008 4:15 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Link

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E03E5DF153EF93BA3575BC0A960958260

I guess he threw it from the first base foul line, not home plate. Still, over the CF wall at Fulton County Stadium. Also rumored to have thrown a softball over 400 feet.

That’s the guy I want backing me up on my dodgeball team.

by siddfynch on Nov 25, 2008 10:44 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

take a look

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64lanlEb0Ys

Happiness is only real when shared

by manny59 on Nov 25, 2008 3:39 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

mlb.com reports that

Singh throws 89-90 and Patel 91-92.

by ozzman99 on Nov 25, 2008 10:11 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

A lefty who can hit 90 with little training?

That’s kind of interesting, actually

TheSouthWing.com - A Magazine of essays, prose and poems

by OldProspects on Nov 25, 2008 11:11 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Evidently these guys have a blog

And the blog is awesome. Contains all kinds of randomness we probably take for granted, and it’s all presented in this quizzical, matter-of-fact manner.

bits like

“Tonight we were celebrating the Halloween Holiday here in America. we are not sure what the holiday comes from, but kids dress up in all kinds of crazy outfits and then go to houses asking for sweets. if people in the house no give the sweets then the kids put toilet paper in their trees.”

“We then went to a movie that was very bad called Rock and Rolla. it was supposed to be big action, but it was no action at all. At least the seats were very comfortable and the theater was very clean.”

"we are now at the point where we can understand very much when people speak. We are even learning some slang talk. like the other day one of the players on USC team saw another player eating and he said, "What are you cracking on DAWG."

In America that means what are you eating my friend. Friends call each other DAWG here. Very weird."

http://www.themilliondollararm.com/blog/

Vogt early, Vogt often.

by Brickhaus on Nov 25, 2008 2:12 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

I'm told they're learning English

By watching Baseball Tonight. Just I thought we had overcome the scourge of Souvenir City…

"That is like saying my ‘upside’ is Brad Pitts face, with Einstein’s brain, and Ron Jeremy’s unit. It is nice to dream, but that ceiling isn’t going to happen." (King Billy Royal)

by drjayphd on Nov 25, 2008 2:44 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs