Ren Mihashi is a pitcher who refuses to leave the mound, for better or worse. His middle school team hated him for it, blaming him for their continuous losses and chalking up his starter position to favoritism. In the end, Mihashi ran away to a different high school, convinced that he would never amount to anything in baseball.

Upon his enrollment at Nishiura High School, however, he is quickly pulled into the newly formed baseball team with people who recognize his abilities. Mihashi is paired up with the gruff catcher Takaya Abe, who promises to bring out his full potential as an ace—so long as he never disobeys his directions. This marks the start of Mihashi's journey to build the strength and confidence needed to stand with his new teammates on any field.

Ookiku Furikabutte won the New Hope Award at the 10th Osama Tezuka Cultural Award Ceremony in 2006 for "showing new possibilities of expression in baseball manga." The following year, the series won the Kodansha Manga Award for general manga. The manga has been adapted into three Japanese stage plays, each based on one of the story arcs. The series also received a video game adaptation; titled Ookiku Furikabutte: Honto no Ace ni Nareru Kamo, it was released on December 13, 2007 for the Nintendo DS by Marvelous Interactive.