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Indian pitchers bring 'million dollar arms' to Bradenton

News Channel 8 photo by SARA BELSOLE

Rinku Singh, left, and Dinesh Patel work out at the Pirates' minor league camp in Bradenton.

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By DAN LUCAS | The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 20, 2009

The Gulf Coast League Pirates, the rookie league affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates, are making baseball history.

The team is using two pitchers from India, the first professional baseball players ever from that country.

Both were discovered on a reality television show.

Rinku Singh has Major League dreams.

His fastball has been clocked as high as 92 miles per hour.

But Singh did not grow up emulating hurlers like Randy Johnson, Roger Clemens or Greg Maddux.

"I didn't watch baseball," Singh said Monday at McKechnie Field in Bradenton.

Neither did Dinesh Patel.

But the two amateur track athletes heard about a reality television show coming to India.

"My coach said a contest was coming here, the "Million Dollar Arm'. If you throw hard, you could win some money," recalled Patel.

Singh doubted his ability.

"We went out there to just enjoy and throw hard. I never thought about winning this competition."

The "Million Dollar Arm" attracted more than thirty-thousand potential pitchers.

Singh was the winner. Patel finished second.

But the contest did not end there.

Both were flown to the United States where they would try-out before actual Major League scouts.

The Pittsburgh Pirates were impressed.

The two men from India landed in Bradenton as professional pitchers still learning how to play baseball.

But this reality show became reality a week ago when Rinku Singh was sent to the mound with the bases loaded in a game against the Tigers in Lakeland.

"I went out there and got (the) strikeout and the inning was over. The next inning, we won. It was my first Indian win."

Singh's July 13th win is the first known professional baseball victory by a pitcher from India.

Now their sights are set on the Majors, a goal once perceived as some kind of gimmick.

"I need a lot of experience and it will take time," Patel said. "It's not easy. It's very hard. But if I practice, I can do it."

News Channel 8 Sports Producer Shannon Liston contributed to this report.

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