AZ Clinic Helps MLB Make History

If not for a scouting event at Physiotherapy Associates in Tempe, AZ, Major League Baseball (MLB) would have never made history.

This off-season marked the first time in history that a MLB team signed athletes from India as non-drafted free agents. This historic even took place at the Physiotherapy Associates Tempe Sport Clinic. The Pittsburgh Pirates signed 20-year-old, right-hander Dinesh Kumar Patel and 19-year-old, left-hander Rinku Singh to participate in the Pirates’ 2009 Minor League Spring Training as the first Indian-born players to sign a professional sports contract outside their home country.

Patel and Singh were spotted by 30 major league scouts at a staged tryout Nov. 6 at the Tempe Sport Clinic in Tempe, AZ, and signed by the Pirates on Nov. 24. Beverly Hills Sports, the agent group representing Patel and Singh, contacted Physiotherapy Associates and RVP Keith Kocher, PT, MOMT, FAAOMPT, to host this event, as they have done so in the past for MLB pitchers like Tom Gordon, Scott Ericson, Keith Faulk and Mike Fetters.

The pitchers won their tickets to the United States, along with cash prizes, after taking the first two spots out of 30,000 contestants on an Indian reality TV show called the “Million Dollar Arm.”  The show was the idea of JB Bernstein, a marketing agent known for representing Barry Bonds, along with others.

The show’s purpose was to locate India’s untapped market of 1 billion people to find athletes who could throw the fastest (minimum 85 mph), most accurate pitches in the competition. The pitchers worked with Southern California pitching coach Tom House for approximately six months before being discovered at Physiotherapy Associates.

Patel, from Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, and Singh, born in Bhadoni, Uttar Pradesh, had never left their villages until coming to America. Both had been javelin throwers in high school, but neither had played a game of baseball before winning the “Million Dollar Arm” contest.

They are learning English through online courses and by watching ESPN’s Baseball Tonight, according to a Nov. 24 Sports Illustrated Online article. Jeff Borris, who signed the pitchers, sees great potential in both athletes, but realizes they need up to four years of minor league experience before learning the skills required to become a major league player, Sports Illustrated reported.