There are niche novels, and then there's The Fireballer... and I say niche because this book is very tailored to baseball nuts - for which I'm gladly one of them. And as such, I really enjoyed it! The story of an unhittable pitcher making a splash in the big leagues in his rookie season whilst dealing with unspeakable trauma - an allegory to the current state of sports with athletic boundaries constantly being pushed and sometimes broken, and the implications this has on the sport, the fans, and the athletes themselves. Novel was well constructed and cleverly written, short and crisp with little fluff on the side. If you like baseball, or sports in general, this give one a go.

Frank Ryder is a young pitcher for the Orioles and creates quite a stir by pitching fast balls of over 105 MPH. As Frank creates a sensation on his way to the World Series, the baseball commissioner and company begin to consider making new rules that would limit pitch speed. Meanwhile, Frank is struggling with his guilt over accidentally hitting a fellow little leaguer with a fatal pitch prior to high school. Once Frank gets past his mental block, his focus changes to addressing the practice of pitchers intentionally hitting batters and in finding a purpose beyond baseball.
As a lifelong baseball fan, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I love baseball “talk” - all the lingo, the detailed play descriptions and all the subtle nuances associated with the game. However, I can certainly understand some readers finding the baseball detail in this book to be slow-paced and boring. I wouldn’t even recommend it to my friends who aren’t into baseball. Frank’s story is very good - his past trauma and current mental blocks are described well and I think the author did a great job developing his character. It was also inspirational to see how he didn’t get ruffled by the proposed rule changes and was able to focus on what really mattered to him. It’s interesting that as I read the book, Spring Training has started with new rules around the timing between pitches, time in the batter’s box and base size to make the game faster and more exciting. So, it seems that baseball continues to evolve even though some of us fans love every slow but extremely meaningful minute of the game. As an aside, I agree with the author’s opinion around designated hitters. Bummer that this has been incorporated into the National League. Anyway, as much as I enjoyed the book, I don’t think Frank’s personal story is enough to draw in non-baseball fans but I’m rating it based on my reading enjoyment.
Thanks to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishers for the Advanced Reader Copy and Amazon Publishing for the Goodreads giveaway.

I picked this up right now because I'm desperately in need of baseball in my life. It's cold and snowy here and all I can think about is how many days until Opening Day. Which as of today is 64. Unfortunately, it didn't quite work for me. I really wanted it to because it sounded like such a great premise.

I voluntarily read and reviewed a copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Five stars are not enough for this book. I am an avid baseball fan so I was a looking forward to this book. It did not disappoint. I think it was the fastest book I have read in a long time. If you like baseball or ever played baseball growing up, you'll want to grab this book.Makes me want to try some of the author's other works.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC as well.

The Fireballer, for me, gets off to a slow start as we seemingly go pitch to pitch with young Frank Ryder- The Fireballer. Author Mark Stevens picks up the pace and brought real interest in the Orioles star pitcher, his background, and sizzling season. Many life lessons are learned, and Frank becomes the man he wants to be,
Thanks NetGalley for the ARC.

Excellent story that just happens to be about a major league pitcher who throws pitches at a speed of 110 mph. There is so much more as he deals with personal demons and team owners who want to limit his pitch speed. Throw in a pennant race and a love interest, and you get the elements for a special book.

Amazing book! I’m not a knowledgeable baseball fan but would like to say this story is a home run!

It is so much more than a novel about baseball. It is a story about regrets, responsibility, redemption and most of all a return to what makes someone whole - in love, life, and liberation.

Did not want this beautifully written, precious book to ever end.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing to read this fabulous ARC.

(The below review will first run on my blog on 1/12/2023 and then on other sites a few days later)

The Fireballer

Many years ago, when Tiger Woods started, it was clear nobody could do what he could do. Nobody had the power, before him, to drive the tee shot so far down the length of the fairway. He made it look easy and the lords of golf were not pleased. Before long, as it seemed like every tournament would be naming Tiger Woods as a champion, the courses were changed and others were marketed as “Tiger Proof.” What Tiger was first to do is now routine for many professional golfers. His days of being a phenom were numbered because human ability and the sport evolved.


Frank Ryder is in the same spot in the here and now as Tiger Woods was many years ago. The sport is different is this time it is baseball. Frank Ryder can consistently pitch at 110 mph and maybe even higher. What he can do with a baseball is amazing and it is just not the speed. Though the speed makes everything else work incredibly well. Because of him, the Baltimore Orioles are upsetting the competitive balance in the American League East where the Yankees and Red Sox expect to dominate the standings and the market.


What Frank Ryder can do is seen by some as a threat to baseball itself. The owners are soon discussing putting a cap on how fast a ball can be thrown because Ryder is virtually unhittable. Instead of celebrating human achievement and the fact that what Ryder can do now will be common in another few years, they want to micromanage Ryder because fans surveyed seem to want to see homers and not shutouts.


It should be a magical year for Ryder as he takes his team to the playoffs for the first time in a very long time. But, it isn’t. Ryder has a dark secret. Some of which folks know about as long ago he honored one of the many unwritten rules of baseball. But, what the public knows about what happened is just the tip of the iceberg. Much more is going on in Ryder’s head. Dealing with the past and the pressure of now is difficult when the media is focused on every move you make and every breath you take.


The Fireballer: A Novel by Mark Stevens is a complicated read and one that goes far beyond the game of baseball. Legacy, hope, redemption, and more play out against the backdrop of baseball, being a teammate, and how you deal with the unwritten rules. The same unwritten rules that mandate how you function as a teammate because that is the way it has always has been.


Much like this review that only skims the surface of the book, The Fireballer: A Novel by Mark Stevens is a complicated book on multiple levels. At its heart, it is about a supremely talented pitcher in major league baseball. But, far more is at work in this complicated read. The Fireballer: A Novel by Mark Stevens is and incredibly complicated and powerful novel. It is also well worth your time, regardless of how you feel about baseball.


My reading copy came by way of an ARC through NetGalley.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2023

The best way to begin a review of this book is to ask a few “what if?” questions. What if a rookie pitcher for the Baltimore Orioles has set the baseball world abuzz with pitches that exceed 105 miles an hour? What if batters are so helpless trying to get a hit off this pitcher that Major League Baseball is contemplating rule changes to limit the speed of pitches? What if this pitcher has a dark secret that has been haunting him since his days of Little League Baseball? These questions, and many more, are the heart of this outstanding baseball novel by Mark Stevens.
Frank Ryder has an amazing fastball, an uncanny means of keeping an even keel both on the mound and at a press conference but an unfortunate event when he was 12 has been weighing heavily on his mind. For such a complex character, Stevens does a wonderful job of portraying Frank in a manner that every reader who picks up this book will be cheering for him, baseball fan or not.
That is because while the book is full of baseball (more on that later), the non-baseball parts of the book and Frank’s life are wonderfully written and the reader will find out a lot about the pitcher whose fastball is unhittable, but whose psyche is very fragile. Other characters in the book such as Frank’s long distance girlfriend Maggie, his brother Josh (a minor league catcher) and the owner and manager of the Orioles are also well developed and characters the readers can connect with, even if they are not baseball fans.
However, with the many chapters that talk about baseball, specifically the games in which Frank pitches and the pennant race that involves his Orioles team, a baseball fan will truly enjoy this book. It addresses many issues that the game faces today – the “unwritten rules” that must be followed, the use of analytics, the lack of offense as pitchers are becoming faster, and even media coverage of the game. For a fictional book on the game, it has an authentic feel to the state of the sport. Even how one of those “unwritten rules” are discussed and handled by players, which is at the core of why Frank is facing his demons from that time long ago in the middle of a spectacular season.
This review cannot do justice for how much I enjoyed reading this book. Not just for the baseball, but for the various messages it tells about self-reflection and the care and compassion shown to Frank by those who either are close to him or whose thoughts were sought out by him. The book is just as big a winner as Frank’s won-loss record.
I wish to thank Lake Union Publishing for providing a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Mark Stevens knocked it out of the park with The Fireballer!

While not a baseball fan, per se, I've watched the sport for decades and appreciated learning about the nuances and politics behind the game. Frank Ryder was a compelling and intriguing protagonist I couldn't help but root for, and I just loved where the story took him. This was a well-written and wholly-engrossing novel that I recommend for fans of baseball and interesting character arcs!