When twelve-year-old Josh is pulled from the tryouts for his middle school's baseball team to try out for Coach Rocky Valentine's fourteen-year-old travel ball team, his life changes in many ways. He would have been the star of his middle school team but now he is struggling just to make the new team and keep up with the bigger, stronger boys. Rocky has Josh drinking supplements to build muscle and has him on an aggressive weight training regimen. When suspicious activity surrounds Rocky, his "supplements" and his coaching in general, Josh and his friend Jaden start asking questions and investigating. What nasty secrets will they uncover and who will they find out is involved?

This engaging sports thriller is an action-packed quick read. Baseball Great deals with many issues, including a complicated father/son relationship, the challenges and demands of youth sports, friendship and crushes, and steroid use. "Gym candy," as the kids call it, or anabolic steroids, are used by team members to make them stronger, better players in a very short time period. Thankfully, the physical dangers and criminal consequences of these drugs is addressed and they are not glorified. Juvenile fist fighting, violence, and dangerous situations add to the suspense in this page-turner. Friendship is supportive and a few age appropriate boy/girl dating situations are present. Language is very mild (b-tthead, cr-p) and one teen bully smokes. On the whole, this is a book that will be very appealing to sports loving tween boys, and one that not only entertains, but that conveys a positive message as well.

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