Not one of Clint's best, but...

Rating: 7/10 (16 June 2013)

This movie has a bunch of "conflicts", the same as in life in general. The baseball scenes are not very credible, but if you love the game you'll enjoy them. The father/daughter team are trying to come to terms with their shaky relationship over the years. She's sent away after her mom dies and feels unloved. He sent her away because he doesn't think he's good for her. (We find out why toward the end.) Kind of a run of the mill story line.
The scout is losing his vision, but he still can tell a great player when he hears one. There's a hot shot #1 pick who everybody wants in the baseball draft.Everybody but Clint. A sabermetric geek working for the Braves, Clint's team, is trying to convince management that his computer is the way to tell if a player is any good, and the Clint's way of doing things is old school. There are some romantic twists and turns along the way, But it comes down to the baseball draft. Clint advises the Braves to go one way.But they go with the Sabermetric geek's recommendation. Clint says the kid can't hit the curve.
Daughter is helping Clint with his scouting and finds someone who can prove him right. Again, kind of a routine storyline here. She shows up with a kid from the ghetto who pitches like Koufax and Randy Johnson and Gibson all in one. Blows the stud hitter out of the box. Why? Because he can't hit the curve. Or anything else for that matter.
It's your classic feel good tale of redemption. Mildly entertaining. But EVERYTHING resolves itself like it's a Mary Poppins movie or something. And while I really kind of enjoyed it because it was about baseball, had Rachel Adams, Clint and John Goodman in it, I can't put this baseball movie in the Field of Dreams or Bull Durham category. Maybe a little more detail to the on field scenes. A little better explanation about why Clint sent the daughter away. And I think more detail about what goes on in upper management of a baseball team might have made it a bit more satisfying for me.
All that said, I think if you like the game, you'll enjoy the movie. So I recommend it for that reason. I'd probably watch it again too.