Former Pirates Pitcher Rinku Singh Will Report to WWE Performance Center Tuesday

Former Pittsburgh Pirates minor league pitcher Rinku Singh will report to the WWE Performance Center on Tuesday to begin training for a career in professional wrestling, WWE announced Saturday.

Singh famously won the Million Dollar Arm reality show in his native India in 2008, and he was signed by the Pirates. He was the first India native to play professional baseball in the United States and went on to spend several years in the minors.

Singh's rise from javelin thrower to professional pitcher was also dramatized in the 2014 Disney move, Million Dollar Arm.

In conjunction with WWE's announcement, Singh commented on his upcoming stint at the Performance Center in Orlando, Florida, according to WWE.com:

"Take a look at where I came from. When I started [playing baseball], there was nothing. Now we have 23 states [in India] playing baseball and softball. As I go through my journey at the Performance Center and WWE, it will continue to make things easier, and I'll have millions of people in my corner. It's going to be a fun journey."

Per WWE.com, Singh appeared on the company's radar when he took part in a tryout at the Dubai Opera House in April 2017.

Singh never made it to Major League Baseball as a pitcher, but in five minor league seasons, he went 10-6 with a 2.97 ERA, striking out 126 batters in 148.1 innings pitched.

He also spent parts of three years pitching in Australia where he went 2-2 with a 4.80 ERA.

Singh's signing comes on the heels of a banner year for Indian Superstars in WWE.

Jinder Mahal became the first wrestler of Indian descent to win the WWE Championship, while Kavita Devi became the first Indian woman to compete under the WWE umbrella when she took part in the Mae Young Classic.

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