The Des Moines Majeskyks are deep in the cellar…so deep that major league sports writers are snidely suggesting they must have started playing before the season actually began in order to wrack up their record. They do have one star, Juan-Tanamera “Bueno” Aires, an ex-basketball phenom who performs miracles at the plate and magic in the field. Unfortunately, team owner Holden Canfield, who’s struck it rich with an Internet start-up, spent the entire team budget on acquiring “Bueno,” leaving the rest of the roster painfully devoid of talent.

Manager Zuke Johansen has just about given up hope when an unexpected thing happens: a scout introduces him to Marvin Kowalski. A straight-A student, valedictorian of his high-school class, and on his way to MIT, Marvin knows nothing about the rules of the game—and his pencil-thin physique would get him laughed off a big league diamond. But Marvin has one brilliant skill. The ultimate “one-tool” player, Marvin has such a good eye that he’s never the least bit tempted to swing at pitches out of the strike zone. And his reflexes are so sharp that he can always put enough wood on the ball to dribble any strike foul. He may not be Babe Ruth, but Marvin has the potential to exhaust—and enrage—opposing pitchers, before taking his walk to first base time after time. In his current predicament, Zuke can’t help but wonder if Marvin’s strange talent might lift his Majeskyks out of the cellar….