Baseball is a leisurely paced game. There is no clock, so time is irrelevant.

We Americans are known for our short attention spans, so if it weren’t for the occasional bursts of action, we would probably have lost patience with our “favorite pastime” years ago.

“Sugar”, like the game it depicts, has a very measured and deliberate pace. Many viewers will undoubtedly find it to be slow and tedious. But for the patient, it has much to savor.

“Sugar” tells the simple story of a young pitcher named Miguel Santos (amateur actor Algenis Pérez Soto) who hails the Dominican Republic. Like many other gifted teenagers in Latin America, Miguel (nicknamed Sugar) has signed with a pro team from the U.S. In his case, the team is the fictional Kansas City Knights.

Sugar trains at the team’s boot camp in his native country and fantasizes about the fame and riches that a career in America could bring him. When he is called up to join their minor league club in Iowa, it seems that dreams might come true.

But, of course, nothing is that simple, especially since this is not a formulaic Hollywood sports flick. “Sugar” is a slice-of-life character study that eschews as many movie clichés as it can.

The husband and wife filmmaking duo of Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, who made the wonderfully offbeat movie “Half Nelson”, aren’t interested in action, catharsis or melodrama. They seem to go out of their way to avoid anything that might smack of manipulation.

They’re obviously interested in capturing the American landscape through the eyes of a naïve outsider. They also seem not to care much about his motivations, but are satisfied with simply depicting the events that he experiences.

There is an upside and a downside to this approach.

On the upside, the movie achieves a rare sense of realism. Plus, since it refuses to follow a formula, we have no idea where the story is headed. It is rare when a film takes us in a direction we might not have been expecting.

On the downside, however, we never get a strong sense of who the main character is or what he’s feeling. This sense of detachment prevents us from connecting emotionally with Sugar. When he makes a strange career decision, it’s difficult to empathize.

But that’s a minor quibble in what is move of moments, not momentum.

“Sugar” is a low-key gem that will score with folks who appreciate a deliberate, no-hit pitcher’s duel. (R) Rating: ***1/2

* Avoid at all costs
** Only if you're bored
*** Good movie
**** Well worth your time
***** Be sure to see it