When you swing for the fences, you risk it all....

Nate: The game is all that matters. It's all that's ever mattered. I've dreamed of wearing a big-league jersey since the first day I grasped a baseball. Now, I'm so close. Playing in the minors has been a blast, but I know I'm ready.

Then, Cooper appeared in the tunnel one night after a game. He's unlike anyone I've ever met—all wild hair and dimples, with a passion for numbers and a heart of gold. Being around him makes me forget all my worries, even when a batting slump threatens everything.

Cooper: People can be weird. Sometimes they say one thing that means something important, but they don't tell me that it's important because they want me to figure it out for myself, otherwise it won't be a lesson learned or something stupid. Other times, they say the exact same thing using the exact same words, but don't mean what they meant before and expect me to understand both meanings and know which I'm supposed to get. What's with that?

Sorry, I kind of ramble when I get excited or happy or sad...or really into something...like, a lot. I mean, I ramble a lot, not get really into things a lot. Although I can get really into things a lot sometimes. Um, I did it again, didn't I?

Anyway. My grandmother took me in when I was little. When she died, and I had to tell those named in her will of their inheritances, my world tilted. Sam, a mechanic who'd helped Grammy with Pop's old car, was on the list. He inherited a car, but I gained so much more—a pair of amazing friends in him and his partner, Miguel.

Then, they took me to a baseball game. How can meeting one man make my legs feel like jelly and my heart thump like a helicopter?

The Batter's Box is a slow-burn, nerd/jock mm sports romance where two men following very different roads converge on the path to happiness.