It has been serialized in Kodansha's seinen manga magazine Monthly Afternoon since September 2003, with its chapters collected in 37 tankōbon volumes as of November 2024.

Mihashi then transfers to Nishiura High School with plans of quitting baseball because he thinks he is not good enough to succeed at it, though he still loves the game deeply.

Assisted by his new teammates (and especially the catcher, Takaya Abe), he grows in stature, confidence and skill, helping his team excel with his own abilities.

Along with the battery Kanou and Hatake, the team has Hiroyuki Oda, a cleanup hitter who speaks in a Kansai dialect in Japanese, and the American equivalent southern accent in English.

Junta Takase is the Tosei's ace pitcher, who uses sinkers and forkballs to strike out batters, while Kazuki Kawai is the team captain.

It was directed by Tsutomu Mizushima, with Yōsuke Kuroda handling series composition, Takahiko Yoshida designing the characters and Shirō Hamaguchi composing the music.

[24] In August 2011, Nikkei Entertainment magazine published a list of top 50 manga creators by sales since January 2010; the series' author, Asa Higuchi, ranked 30th with over 2.24 million copies sold.

Kimlinger praised it for its focus on "strategy and the technicalities of team play, not on skills and thrills", commending as well its writing, direction, scoring and casting, adding that "they all come seamlessly together to tell a simple story (a group of guys, a baseball diamond, and a game they really want to win) with sly suspense and unexpected complexity.

"[29] Justin Sevakis of ANN also made positive comments about the series; however, he stated that the second half of the first season, "while still fun and watchable, falls down rather badly", adding that it "comes down with a serious case of Shonen Tournament Syndrome", criticizing its slow pacing.

Despite this, Sevakis said that the series is "surprisingly involving", and called it "the most compelling sports anime since Hajime no Ippo," concluding: "For all its faults, Big Windup!

"[30] Bamboo Dong of the same website praised the series as well, calling it one of the best baseball-centric shows, commending the focus on teamwork, friendship, and its examination of the human side of the sport.

Dong, however, noted the slow pacing of the show, stating: "if you're expecting a steady stream of games, with all the action stacked towards winning or losing, you won't find that in this series."

"[31] James Brusuelas from Animation World Network praised the series for its detailed focus on baseball, recommending it to fans of the sport.

"[32] In a review of the first half of the first season, Holly Ellingwood of Active Anime lauded the series for its characters and story, noting that "it has its ample share of sports action and drama, but it also has a lot of fun with a perky sense of humor."

"[17] Reviewing the second half of the first season, Ellingwood wrote: "The anime remains a lot of fun and with its amiable tone and good intentions, it's impossible to not smile while watching it.

"[18] Brad Rice of Japanator praised the series, stating that it "sticks true to its seinen roots and tackles baseball in a straightforward, almost analytical route."

Rice added that the series "spends a lot of time on the strategy of baseball, with players trying to out-think each other, a la Death Note.