From the New York Times: "Chad Harbach's book The Art of Fielding is not only a wonderful baseball novel…but it's also a magical, melancholy story about friendship and coming of age that marks the debut of an immensely talented writer. Mr. Harbach…has the rare abilities to write with earnest, deeply felt emotion without ever veering into sentimentality, and to create quirky, vulnerable and fully imagined characters who instantly take up residence in our own hearts and minds. He also manages to rework the well-worn, much-allegorized subject of baseball and make us see it afresh, taking tired tropes about the game…and injecting them with new energy. In doing so he has written a novel that is every bit as entertaining as it is affecting."