The Pittsburgh Pirates finally made a splash in free agency this offseason, acquiring star lefthander Rinku Singh and flame-throwing righthander Dinesh Kumar Patel. What, you've never heard of them? That's because they're stars in India. Sort of.
For those who have yet to hear or read about this, Singh and Patel were the winners of a show called The Million Dollar Arm. Some brilliant mind came up with the thought that there must be SOME baseball talent in the second-largest country in the world. It's generally believed that throwing in the mid-to-high 90s is something you must be born with - it's not something you can be taught. So in a country of 1.1 billion, some of those blazin' fastball genes must have been distributed. The creators of the show ended up with Rinku Singh, a 6'2" lefty who won the contest with an 87 MPH fastball, and Dinesh Kumar Patel, a stocky righty who topped out at 85. Neither of the two knew a thing about baseball; the closest they had come to throwing a baseball was throwing the javelin. That says more than enough about what the creators were working with.
Rinku and Dinesh were flown to SoCal to train with USC pitching coach Tom House. Not a bad gig. I should have flown out to India for this thing. As a former college player, I could have hit 87 at least and got to live the life - Southern California, playing at Dedeaux Field (one of the finest facilities in the country), being on the baseball field all day, relaxing on the beaches on the weekends, hanging out with Hollywood's finest women (maybe not that part) ... The life. And these guys didn't even take advantage of it ... Sorry, I got a bit off track there.
Anyway, these kids trained with House for six months and got to audition for Major League clubs. During their training, the little righty hit 95 MPH - not too shabby for a kid who had never even seen a baseball just a few months prior. Both ended up signing with the desperate Pittsburgh Pirates, a team that refuses to spend money. And even if they had the money, they wouldn't have a chance in hell at landing a premier free agent because their organization flat-out SUCKS.
I am really hoping for these kids to succeed. And to succeed, we aren't asking for either of these kids to turn into the next Randy Johnson or Pedro Martinez; they don't even have to become a significant contributor for a Major League club. If they can just last in the Minors for a few years and develop into a respectable prospect, that would be success. If Rinku Singh can come out of the bullpen in 2014 as a loogy, that would be success. If Singh and Patel can show that talent can be found in India, we could be looking at a new prospect hot bed. Sure, it will take some time to introduce the game and get places up-and-running, but teams will see the development opportunities and open academies just as they have in China and the Dominican. What these two kids have done already is remarkable, but if they can just do a little more, I think they will really be able to open India up as a place of baseball talent. It begins with the idea of baseball getting around. Watching games on the internet, throwing around the cricket ball rather than bouncing it, playing catch - and it slowly develops. Rinku and Dinesh have provided an entirely new opportunity for kids in India, and I do not doubt that baseball will begin to grow in popularity among the nation's youth. If Rinku and Dinesh were able to land professional baseball contracts in a little over six months of exposure to the game, imagine what some of these kids could do if they are exposed from the age of four or five?
What I do question is the ability of these Indian kids to survive the culture shock. Just by reading through the blog and watching the videos of Rinku and Dinesh, you can tell that the move from India to L.A. was not an easy one. The culture is so, so, so different. I won't even begin to try and describe the potential issues, as I'm not educated well-enough in Indian culture, but based on some of the comments that the two made in their blog, I was amazed they had lasted this long. Here's a quote from Rinku's July 4th blog entry: "Also got to see some disturbing scenes. Teenagers taking to booze and smoke. I was enraged at their parents for either neglecting them or not giving them the right upbringing. I had to ignore them to get back to the joyous ambiance." I mean... if that was disturbing and enraging, imagine what it will be like playing in the Minors with a team full of 18, 19, and 20 year olds who booze every night? Or engaging in conversation about girls? I can imagine what that would be like. By no means am I judging the Indian culture, I am simply saying that it is far different here in America and it may be a culture that is difficult for an Indian player to surround himself in.
Regardless, I do believe this is a great opportunity for both Rinku and Dinesh and for the game of baseball in India. Both pitchers have repeatedly cited a desire to one day return home and open a Baseball Center in India. Baseball gave them an opportunity to make a better life for themselves, and wishing to give that same opportunity to other kids in India is step 1. But if either has enough success to eventually open an Academy in India, it's unlikely that it will be the first - some other organization will have beat them to it.
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