Goodness knows I'm no baseball fan, but I enjoyed the vivid relationships portrayed between Ricky, his feisty mother and the craggy, alchoholic Pitcher, as well as Ricky's struggle to make it to high school ball. You could see this story made into one of those feel-good movies, with maybe Kevin Costner as the Pitcher. In a way the character archetypes are almost too pat. Still, I found it an enjoyable read. ( )

The Pitcher is an appealing sports-related book that doesn't shy away from emotional resonance. It's more of a rarity to find in YA books these days and it's great to have something to offer to baseball fans in the same way I might steer soccer fans to The Keeper. This book didn't speak to my personal tastes as I read, but it's sure to be popular among its target audience. ( )

I got two ARCs of this book, one from here and one from another site. I'm giving one of the copies to a friend of mine who's mad about baseball.
I haven't gotten terribly far into the book yet. Honestly, I'd probably have read more of it by now if I were into sports.
It's entertaining while I'm reading it, but I'm not invested enough in the story or characters to make me want to pick it up when I'm doing something else.
The writing style is alright, very informal. It's written in the first person; I usually prefer third.
As a side note, that's a rather unfortunate picture of the author on the back cover. Kinda looks like he's judging me for sitting around in my skivvies all day. I'd suggest retaking the photo.

I liked it and I didn't at the same time. It is a bit repetitive and when it is not, it is full of re-directions. Jumped a bit around too much early on. This-but-that, that-but-this. Still it is a tried and true plot line. So much so familiar that it reminded me of an After School Special from the 1970's. It was a little sappy but with a good message.

It took a couple of days to finish because, again, it is a Young Adult level book. I also kept thinking that with some adult themes and more serious content, this could be a pretty good novel.

The characters were predictable, as was the story, but it was still a good, fun read. A pleasant story.

A young boy and his single mom befriend a curmudgeonly old neighbor who happens to be an old time pro baseball player. This was a pretty predictable, but enjoyable young adult novel. It would be a good choice for the preteen to young teen athlete. ( )