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Baseball is known as the American hobby, but it has long been a world game. From the Dominican Republic to Japan in Venezuela, sport reigns supreme for fans, and countless players are on the baseball lists of Major League.
The next country that could soon be on this list? India.
While his residents may prefer a different game with a ball and a bat – the cricket – is also the homeland of Arjun Nimala, the first prospect of the organization of Toronto Blue Jays. Choose 20th in total in the 2023 draft, Nimmala is the first first generation Indian American to be selected in the first round.
Nimmala, who grew up outside Tampa Bay, Florida, said her father had a cricket at a young age, but also taught baseball. He fell in love with sport and played competitively throughout high school until the Blue Jays chose it at only 17 years old.
Two years later, he was classified N ° 46 of 900 perspectives by MLB and considered as a future centerpiece of the organization.
While Nimmala, currently with Blue Jays High-A Vancouver Canadians, continues to set up the minor leagues, MLB makes a vast awareness in India by organizing tournaments for children and taking baseball programs in schools.
“We want to try to present sport to as many children as possible,” said Chris Marinak, operations manager and MLB strategy at NBC News. “It’s the foot in the door. This is how you educate children on the game – you ask children to fall in love with this, and they become fans for the rest of their lives.”
He said the goal was to take baseball to India both on the fields and inside houses.
“We focus on obtaining our MLB games on broadcasting and streaming,” said Marinak. “We currently have two partners in India who put live matches for the playoffs and the regular season, and we see a great interest in fans around consumption.”
MLB opened an office in India in 2019 and since 2021, welcomed the MLB Cup, a tournament for young amateurs teams across the country.
Nimmala went to India in 2023 to see the initiatives that the League produced and to help develop the game in the country where a large part of her family lives.
“To be able to go there and not only see that baseball is also part of India, but also to try to enlarge it, I think it makes me super proud,” said Nimala. “Knowing that I have the opportunity to do this and see how much baseball is already played in India, I thought it was very cool.”
Asked about how baseball can be in India, a country with 1.46 billion people, Marinak said MLB had high goals.
“When you have a billion fans watching cricket, it creates a real opportunity to develop sport,” he said. “If we can get cricket -scale baseball, it would be a huge penetration in this market. It would be a lot like what you see in Japan (and in) the United States. It can be done. “
Nimmala says that the objective remains to make the major leagues, although it can take several years because of its age and experience. His 17 home circuits last year led all 18 -year -old players, and after some difficulties at the start of the season, he overturned his production in the second period.
From June 27, Nimmala struck .265 / .331 / .564 with 13 circuits in its last 53 games.
Known as a solid field player, he has an elite strength in the arm, according to Mlb.com.
But statistics only tell part of its story. By simply being on the field, Nimmala inspires a whole new generation of Indian players.
“I receive a lot of messages, especially on Instagram, young children who are Indian who are starting to play baseball,” he said. “They are like,” guy, I’m really looking at you. “I think it’s super cool to see that.
But even with all the responsibilities of being a pioneer, he keeps his eyes on the price.
“I have 100% confidence that I will play one day with the Blue Jays de Toronto and that I will have an impact.”
