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On Monday, Nov. 24, 2008, the Pittsburgh Pirates made their best baseball decision since plucking Roberto Clemente from the Brooklyn Dodgers in the Rule Five Draft in 1954. And it might turn out to be even better than that...

Dinesh Patel, Rinku Singh: "Million Dollar Arms" Worth Way More

by Josh Lipman (Contributor)

15

4428 reads

Opinion

November 24, 2008


On Monday, Nov. 24, 2008, the Pittsburgh Pirates made their best baseball decision since plucking Roberto Clemente from the Brooklyn Dodgers in the Rule Five Draft in 1954.

And it might turn out to be even better than that.

In an unprecedented act of progressivism, the Buccos became the first MLB team ever to sign an Indian-born player. In fact, it is the first time in history an Indian-born player has signed a professional sports contract outside their home country, let alone in the U.S.

And it gets better. There are two of them.

Dinesh Patel (a 20-year-old righty) and Rinku Singh (a 19-year-old lefty) were rewarded for their prospect-like performances in India's first "Million Dollar Arm" challenge and their ensuing training with invitations to this year's Minor League Spring Training.

Though neither projects to be a future Hall of Famer, the two reportedly have some respectable stuff: "the 6'2" Singh throws 89-90 mph and has a split-finger changeup pitch, [while] the 5'11" Patel throws a circle change and can reach 91-92 mph with his heater." (from MLB.com).

But this signing means so much more than just the individual talents of Patel or Singh.

While it's not the first international (non-Americas) signing for the new management team of Neal Huntington and Frank Coonelly, it's certain to be the most valuable.

Though the Buccos signed South African switch-hitting shortstop prospect Mpho Ngoepe earlier this year, it pales in comparison to what Huntington just pulled off.

Baseball fans everywhere—especially Pirates fans—have about 1,129,866,154 reasons to like this acquisition—one for every potential new fan. While it may take a while for baseball to catch on in India, if it ever does, the Pittsburgh Pirates are sure to be to the Indians as the New York Yankees are to the Japanese.

Not to mention it opens the floodgates for a virtually unlimited stream of potential talent, with the Pirates sure to be atop the list.

It will be some time before Patel and Singh make their major league debuts; but, if and when they do, it is absolutely critical that Pirates are fielding a competitive team if they have any hope of establishing a firm foothold in their new-found potential fan base.

But if they do ever successfully capture the hearts of the Indian people, the dividends will be plentiful in terms of both players and revenue.

It might even eventually lead to the Pirates becoming —GASP— a large market team!

Author Poll

Is this a good acquisition for the Pirates?

  • Yes, they'l' be good players for the Pirates
  • Yes, even though they won't be good, it has opened the floodgates.
  • No, bad move.
vote to see results
Author Poll Results

Is this a good acquisition for the Pirates?

  • Yes, they'l' be good players for the Pirates

    44.8%

  • Yes, even though they won't be good, it has opened the floodgates.

    44.5%

  • No, bad move.

    10.7%
  • Total votes: 299
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15 comments Last one added 6 months ago — Leave a Comment

  1. Abner Lope 7 months ago

    Thanks for bringing this news of Indians approaching the majors. I always look forward to seeing how immigrant players do in our major leagues. I will be tracking both players in the future. Such imports will stimulate interest in sports by different heritages; that's exciting to me because sports has a way of underminding the premise of racial physical superiority.

    My son's best friend is Indian; ironically, his last name is Patel. He went to his first Braves' game down at the Ted this year. He LOVED it and stayed interested in the game for the whole time he was at the stadium; I think his interest will multiply should he see someone of his national origin playing it at the pro level.

    I just hope the politically correct brigade won't balk should the Cleveland Indians actually sign an Indian!

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  2. Andrew Kaufman 7 months ago

    Nice story, Josh. It's kind of shocking to see the Pirates actually leading the charge on foreign scouting, especially given the terrible state of their international scouting department as recently as 18 months ago.

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  3. vikas sharma 7 months ago

    Folks,
    I just can't stop laughing seeing the figure 1,129,866,154. Because in INDIA, Cricket is what matters.. rest all is just ok... or not even worth thinking abt..

    Pirates have to work their ass out to make a dent in india..
    Hopefully, if an indian team wins their super bowl, then maybe, just maybe, indians will get distracted and look at baseball

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  4. Josh Lipman 7 months ago

    That's absolutely true - I have first hand experience of the passion they have for the game (way more than Brits IMO lol). But, even just a small dent in India would have a tremendous impact on the globalization of the sport.

    While I will agree that cricket is - and probably always will be - India's primary sport, I would definitely contend that every country has room for a secondary sport (if not more). Just like cricket and rugby thrive in football-crazy England or tennis, golf, NASCAR, etc. in the U.S. (do we even have a primary sport anymore?), there's gotta be room for another sport in India. Why not baseball? If baseball in India even became like MLS to the U.S. that would be huge.

    But, honestly, I think the impact will be bigger than that; maybe not in the next few years, but eventually. I think what could make India especially susceptible to letting baseball in is the fact that baseball and cricket similar enough sports that baseball won't be rejected outright but they're different enough to make baseball new and interesting (rounders, anyone?).

    Thanks for the read and the comment, btw.

    *While it's always great to argue about sports and culture etc... my thoughts/prayers definitely go out to the people of India - all 1,129,866,154 of them - and anyone else associated (family, friends, or otherwise). And there's NO arguing that.

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  5. Joseph Ward 7 months ago

    what happened to Manoj Shukla he was supposed to get training for 1 month in the us. Is he stilll training?

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  6. hari PATEL 7 months ago

    Hey my last name is Patel too. I guess Dinesh Patel is now Patel n# 600,001 in the USA lol

    so these guys are going to play next year or they are still training?

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    • Josh Lipman 7 months ago

      Haha that number might be higher :)

      No, the general word is that they'll be in the minors for at least a few years. They have good arm strength and raw talent, given that they didn't grow up playing the game, so there's hope that once they play for a while they'll get better faster than the average prospect.

      Unfortunately, it will take them a while to learn the game, let alone become skilled at it, so they have alot of catching up to do.

      Maybe 3-4 years in the minors?

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  7. Mustafa Shaikh 6 months ago

    Let's be real here. The chances of them making it to a MLB game are VERY slim. Kids here who play baseball their entire lives and are 5-tool players stumble in the minors. Either way, this does open up the door for finding talent in India in the future.

    Also, "In fact, it is the first time in history an Indian-born player has signed a professional sports contract outside their home country, let alone in the U.S," is false. Cricket players in India sign contracts to play in England all the time.

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  8. Josh Lipman 6 months ago

    I agree. One thing I think they have working for them is they'll have no mechanical flaws, given that they've never developed bad habits.

    On the last comment, I thought it was weird when I wrote it, but I took it from an official Pirates press release from MLB.com:

    "The Pittsburgh Pirates today signed 20-year-old left-handed pitcher Rinku Singh and 19-year-old right-handed pitcher Dinesh Kumar Patel as non-drafted free agents. Singh and Patel are the first-ever Indian-born players to sign a professional sports contract outside of the country, which has a population of more than 1.1 billion people."

    If it's not true, at least I can hide behind MLB.com :)

    Thanks for the comment, btw.

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  9. Josh Lipman 6 months ago

    Here's the link: http://mlb.mlb.com/news/press_releases/press_release.jsp?ymd=20081124&content_id=3691303&vkey=pr_pit&fext=.jsp&c_id=pit

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  10. Raj patel 6 months ago

    if music can bring this world togather so does sports, becuase every type of activity is expandable.

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  11. H. Bomb 6 months ago

    The raw talent of these guys is promising beyond what many lifelong-ballplayers have when they come into the majors. (seriously, low 80's/high 90's fastballs with ZERO prior baseball experience!)

    The most significant thing that could hold them back is injury. However, I'm sure the Pirates will take extra good care of these two desi (Indian diaspora) athletes, given how much attention they're already getting, both, socio-culture AND strictly athletic standpoints.

    The guys are young too, so they still have plenty of throws left in them, as opposed to recruiting some 30-something gem who would have a foreseeable drop-off.

    As cliche as it sounds: only time will tell. However, I'm sure many people will be paying more attention than usual to these two new minor leaguers!

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