indian pitchers tryout for major league scouts

Here's a different twist in the world of baseball... Last week, Major League scouts took a look at pitchers Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel of India—a country better known for producing world class cricketers than pitching aces... but maybe that could change: Indian prospects pitch for scouts.

The tryout was among their rewards for winning an Indian reality TV show called The Million Dollar Arm, which drew more than 30,000 contestants. The contest was organizes by a California sports management firm. The rules were simple: pick up a baseball and throw it as hard as you can.

With such a huge population, you figure India's got to have some untapped pitching talent. Singh and Patel pitched in the Delhi region and topped out in the high 80s mph. That earned them a trip to the U.S., where they've spent the last six months training with a pitching coach in Los Angeles.

Last week, they had their big day in front of about 30 major league scouts in Tempe, Arizona. Patel hit 90 on the radar gun during a 30-pitch stint. Singh was clocked at 84. Not bad for two guys who had never picked up a baseball before last spring. Who knows? Maybe we'll see these guys on a Major League mound in the near future.