Dinesh Patel

Dinesh Kumar Patel

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 185 lb.

• Born May 6, 1989 in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh India

BR Minors page

Biographical Information

Dinesh Patel is a rarity, a baseball player from India, a country that does not even field a team in the Asian Championship on a regular basis. He competed in the Indian reality show "Million Dollar Arm" in 2008, having never picked up a baseball before. He reached 90 mph during a tryout, intriguing the Pittsburgh Pirates, who signed him along with Rinku Singh. They were believed to be the first players from India to sign deals in Organized Baseball. Both of the former cricket players made their professional debuts with the GCL Pirates on July 4, 2009. Patel had the better debut, tossing a shutout inning and fanning one against the GCL Yankees.

Patel allowed 2 runs (1 earned) in 6 1/3 IP for the 2009 GCL Pirates, going 1-0. He returned to the same team in 2010. He pitched 9 games with a 8.59 ERA in 7.1 innings in his second year of pro ball, and was released by the Pirates after the season. Still, the experience of playing baseball had changed Patel's life for the better. He was able to attend university and used his revenues from the sport and the rights to his story to provide for his family. He had found regular work as a baseball instructor, and , as he explained, were it not for baseball, he would have probably been stuck in a lowly army job.

In 2014, Singh and Patel's story was turned into the movie Million Dollar Arm.

Further Reading

• Bob Nightengale: "'Million Dollar Arm' dares India to dream", USA Today, May 5, 2014. [1]

Related Sites

• State Dept. story about the pair of players from India.
• Article in USA Today about the two Indian pitchers