Caribbean cricket star trying to break into baseball, thanks to Reds coach

An interesting feature story in The New York Times discusses how West Indies cricket star Kieran Powell is pursuing a dream to play professional baseball, working with a number of instructors that include Reds hitting coordinator Ryan Jackson.

Jackson is one of several coaches to have worked with Powell during the player’s six-month quest to sign with a baseball team, the story says, and told the Times that Powell “has made tremendous strides in a short period of time” and that the 6-foot-2, 190-pound Powell, age 25, profiled as a potential center fielder and leadoff hitter with a swing that could produce gap-to-gap line drives.

No professional cricket players have ever played major league baseball, the story says, though it references two pitchers from cricket-loving India, Dinesh Patel and Rinku Singh, who were signed to minor league deals by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2009 (their story was depicted in the movie Million Dollar Arm). Patel is no longer in organized baseball; Singh is, but he hasn’t gotten anywhere near the major leagues.

Read the full New York Times story here.