Intro:

Rinku Singh is hoping to one day share the field with the Pittsburgh Pirates

The 24 year old Singh has taken one of the most unusual journeys to professional baseball.

The son of a truck driver from Lucknow, India, Singh grew up training as a javelin thrower.

But in 2008, Singh entered an Indian reality television show called the "Million Dollar Arm".

Having never heard of or seen baseball before, Singh won the contest over 37,000 participants.

From there he was off and running, training at the University of Southern California, then playing in the Dominican Summer League, Gulf Coast League, New York Penn League and the Australian Baseball League.

Last season Singh played for the West Virginia Power, a Pirates affiliate club in the South Atlantic League.

Now living at Pirate City in Bradenton, Singh will start the season with the Bradenton Marauders, the Pirates High-A affililate.

The affable Singh says he is determined to make the most of his unexpected opportunity and hopes to open the door to other Indian athletes playing professionally.

Script:

SOUNDBITE (English):

"Well you know, sometimes I don't believe it myself that I'm playing professional baseball. You know when I first got here in America and was learning baseball, I had no idea. I had the thought in my mind that I'd be going back to India and be doing the javelin again. But right now I can't even tell you how much I'm loving this game."

SUPER Caption; Rinku Singh, Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher:

SOUNDBITE (English):

"And it's a huge opportunity for me that I can go play in America so I can open whole new doors for those Indian people, because I know I was playing back there, working your ass off every single day, but you never get nothing. In India it's all government support and everyone is just supporting cricket so I wanted to double up on those sportsmen who are working really hard back home and give them a chance to come here in America so they can support their family better and they can do whatever they want to do. My goal in coming here to America os to open whole new doors for those people who are working really hard so they can come here and play professionally."

SUPER Caption; Rinku Singh, Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher: