Throwing Bullets: A Tale of Two Pitchers Chasing the Dream

by Roy Rowan

The minor leagues never looked so major. In this compelling story of competition and sportmanship, long-time journalist and baseball enthusiast Roy Rowan takes the reader inside the hearts and locker rooms of two of minor league baseball's hottest pitching prospects pitching for the same team and against each other.
On one mount is Justin Olson. A product of Big Ten baseball and an academic star, Olson is an accomplished student whose fastball tops out at 94 miles an hour. On the other mount is Francisco Liriano. Taken from the sandlot ball fields of the Dominican Republic, he possesses one of the most threatening arms in the minors. Widely considered to be the best pitcher outside of the big leagues, Liriano's arsenal of pitches humbles and awes the hitters that he faces.
On one hand, they are teammates, pitching to get the New Britain Rock Cats to the postseason. But on the other, they are adversaries, pitching for their futures and locked in a head-to-head competition for the same opportunity—a chance to be one of the starting five for the Minnesota Twins.
Throwing Bullets takes the reader through the trials and tribulations of these two young pitchers both on and off the field. A vivid story of competition, frustration, failure, and success, this book is an inside look at two minor league lives where every pitch is major.

Genres: Baseball

208 pages, Hardcover

First published July 25, 2006

Reviews

[Mike Kennedy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was really disappointed in this book. Roy Rowan bounces around a lot at the beginning switching between spring training and the season. This book was conceived as a writer following two pitchers, Fransisco Liriano and Justin Olson. I was really excited to read a book about the Twins minor league system, but this book left a lot to be desired. Rowan wanted to follow the two pitchers through their season at class AA New Britain. This concept was blown apart when Liriano was promoted to class AAA Rochester. At this point I don't think Rowan knew what to do because he spend the rest of the book bouncing between class AA and class AAA. I was hoping for lots of insight for Liriano and Olson, as well as, the rest of the manager, coaches, and other players. In fact Rowan doesn't include any interviews with the two pitchers in the first sixty pages. He also spends most of the book talking about how he drove around the country, went to museums, and stayed with friends, as well as, watching some baseball. Unfortunately, you would expect the explanations of his outside baseball exploits would add to the book, but he literally gives boring line by line account of what he did. There were no insightful stories or lighter moments. If I cared about what routes you took in the Northeastern part of the country to visit various stadiums, I might find the route reciting interesting. Another thing that shows what a poorly written book this was, was the mistakes made. In the book Rowan refers to future major leaguer Denard Span as a shortstop. Denard Span is a Center Fielder, and has never played an inning as a shortstop that I could find on a number of reputable websites. Also Rowan referred to former Detroit Tiger Alan Trammel, as Art Trammel. Rowan is a self proclaimed baseball enthusiast who is old enough to know of Alan Trammel when he was one of the biggest stars in baseball winning World Series with the Detroit Tigers. About the only thing I liked about this book was some of the names that were playing in the minors at the time. The Twins had Liriano, Perkins, Span, and Blackburn. You also heard names mentioned like Dustin Pedoira and Melky Cabrera. The Idea behind this book was solid, unfortunately the author was not up to the challenge of delivering a solid product. This book had no backstory or side stories to it, instead it was 185 pages of the author giving us boring play by play of his summer.

[Babs · Rating 3 out of 5]

it's weird to start a book that you kind of already know should have a sequel! My goal is to get this one signed someday - by the one of the pitchers, not necessarily the author..

OK - Now that I have actually finished it, it's definitely a book that any Twins fan should read. And, if you are a baseball fan who hasn't really payed attention to the minor leagues before, you should read it too! Gives a great picture (granted, a single season snapshot) of how the farm teams work.

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fun book for the Twins fan, particularly one who enjoys the minor leagues, and moreso for the one who enjoyed Fransisco Liriano in 2006. However, I think any baseball fan would like this behind-the-scenes look at life in the minor leagues. I, of course, was thoroughly fascinated.

[Dale Stonehouse · Rating 1 out of 5]

Story of 2 competing minor league pitchers, one being Francisco Liriano, is booted for error by author's egocentric travelogue approach.