Remember how the Pirates signed those two Indian reality-show winners? Well, they’re back in camp this year, and unlike last spring, which was basically a publicity tour masquerading as baseball, this year they’re pitching and working out just like any other ballplayers. And they’re improving:
The progress between last spring and now is remarkable, Pirates farm director Kyle Stark said, considering they knew next to nothing when they arrived. They had a difficult time getting the concept of catching the ball with the glove, not their bare hands, and the first time a ball was hit back to one of them during live batting practice, he jumped and screamed in surprise.
Not bad. It usually takes Pirates prospects two or three years to stop jumping and screaming when the ball comes their way.