Pirates sign two "pitchers" from India

[filihok]

http://www.sportsline.com/mlb/story/11130371

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 baseball 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.

[HoustonGM]

Yeah, nice publicity stunt. I doubt anything actually comes from these guys.

[RedsoxRockies]

It would be awesome if it did

[filihok]

I hope so to. It'd be awesome for those two guys.

[JeepGuy63]

Who knows? With a little polish and some coaching, they might amount to something.

[asianinvasion]

Links broken.

Anything can happen but I bet this was a PR move to attract more international players to Pittsburgh. Kinda like how allot of Asian players sign with Seattle or Boston because of the largeness of the Asian community and how they have many players in the Minors and Majors.

[asianinvasion]

Apparently Singh is a lefty so hes more likely to make it.

[Big Mikey]

If they can't even throw 85MPH I don't see them doing anything. I wouldn't say I know an amazing amount about the game but with sports in general you can only teach so much. I'm sure there low speed could be because of pitching mechanics and technique but being better in that area will only help so much.

[filihok]

Scouting Reports

http://eastwindupchronicle.com/scout...-dinesh-patel/

[metsguy234]

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/12/11/ind...ers/index.html

[RedsoxRockies]

This is old news, it happened several weeks ago

[metsguy234]

This is old news, it happened several weeks ago

But they were just invited to Spring Training

And CNN gives the full story, it's really interesting

[EVEN11323]

They have a good segment on these two on Outside the Lines right now, probably will be replayed later on.

[gRYFYN1]

Wait ? these guys WON ?? and have to play for the Pirates ??

[ohms_law]

heh
I don't know anyone who would turn down a shot at the Big Show though, regardless of what team it's with.