Review of "Travel Team: The Prospect," by Jason Glaser

Review of

Travel Team: The Prospect, by Jason Glaser ISBN 9780761383253


Four out of five stars

 This entry in the “Travel Team” series features Nick Cosimo, the catcher of the Las Vegas Roadrunners traveling baseball team. Nick is the de facto leader of the team, on occasion he even flashes signs that override the wishes of the coach. Nick is a true modern baseball man, he is a carbon unit container of baseball analytics. Nick is also an openly gay teen boy, yet that is largely an incidental fact in this story.

 Like nearly all players in the highly competitive traveling team circuit, Nick’s goal is to get drafted by a major league team and eventually play in the big leagues. When a scout is spotted in the stands, Nick begins thinking more about impressing the scout rather than improving his team’s chances of winning. This alienates everyone from the players to the coaches and Nick must learn a hard lesson before righting his attitude.

 The moral of this story is clear, and it is interesting that the knowledge that Nick is gay is incidental and generally irrelevant. If that had been left out the rendition would not have been altered in any way. Therefore, it is almost exclusively a book about sports and the challenges of playing in a highly competitive environment.