| Hongō Masamune | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Komadai Fujimaki - No. 1 | |
| Pitcher | |
| Bats: - | Throws: Right |
| Kanji | 本郷 正宗 |
| Nickname | Baseball Godsend (by Nitta Kouzou)[1] |
| Characteristics | |
| Gender | Male |
| Age | 17[2] |
| Place of birth | Hokkaido |
| Status | |
| Education | 2nd Year High School |
| Style | Power Pitcher |
| Skills | 150+ km/h Fastball Slider Split-finger Fastball |
| First Appearance | |
| Manga | Act II - Chapter 1 |
| Cast | |
| “ | We haven't come all the way from Hokkaido to have fun playing baseball. We are here at Koshien to seize the championship pennant. Do you think some weakling city boy could possibly stop us? | ” |
— Hongou in Spring Snow [3]
| ||
Hongou Masamune is a second year student of Komadai Fujimaki. He is the ace of Komadai Fujimaki's baseball team and is dubbed The Hulk of the North by the media.[4]
Appearance
Hongou has short dark hair, dark blue eyes, and always has a gruff or uninterested look on his face.
Character
Hongou has a serious, yet intense personality. He hates losing to anyone and is often dismissive or outright rude towards others. He shows resentment towards his coach Nitta and seems to dislike the media.
History
When he was in Junior High, he's heard of Furuya Satoru, who has faster pitches than he does. He and close friend Renji, wanted to play against Furuya in middle school but unfortunately, didn't happen.[3] They got to see Furuya in action during the Meiji Jingu and also expected to play against him in the Final but again missed the chance after Seidou lost in the Semifinal to the eventual runner-up Houmei High.[5]
Plot
Act II
(84th)Spring Koshien
Hongou is first seen reading a book in the hotel while his teammates watch the telecast of Seidou's first round match. A teammate asks him if he finds the book more interesting than the match. Before he can answer, their coach, Nitta Kouzou enters to give instructions and tells Hongou that he'll be the relief pitcher in their upcoming match.
In Komadai's first round match, in the bottom of the fifth, Komadai leads with two runs and Hongou is sent to pitch. After the three outs change, his coach comments on his performance to which Hongou gets angry at but is held back by catcher, Renji.
Quarterfinals
In the match against Seidou High, Hongou starts for the first time in the tournament. He throws a 150km/h fastball right off the bat at Kuramochi and took Seidou's lead-off down with his Splitter. He then proceeds to strike-out both Toujou and Haruichi with just three pitches.[6] Hongou then continues to shut Seidou down, after his team scored two early runs off Furuya.
At the top of the fifth, Seidou High is yet to make a hit. At-bat is Furuya and Hongou vents out his frustrations, striking Seidou's ace out.[3] At the top of the seventh, Miyuki gets the first hit off Hongou. Furuya bats next sending the ball between first and second. Miyuki advances to second but Furuya is out at first thanks to Komadai's captain's fine play. The captain, Nishi Hideo, apologizes to Hongou for failing to get the double play, Hongou points a thumb to himself then turns away. [7] And at the top of the ninth, Hongou cleanly closes out the game handing the win to his team, delivering Seidou a complete game Shut-out.
At the line-up, Furuya offers to shake hands with Hongou and despite being reminded by his teammates, Hongou walks away, disregarding the gesture.
Semifinals
In the semi's versus Hakuryuu, Hongou did not pitch but Hakuryuu's lineup is shut down to five hits.
Finals
In the finals, Komadai faces Seiseisha. From a newspaper article, Hongou displays masterful pitching, raking up 12 strikeouts and delivered yet another Shut-out victory. He also impresses with his batting and Komadai wins their third major tournament.[8][9]
Skills
Hongou is a power pitcher, being able to throw fastballs reaching 150km/h and over. Hongou's arsenal includes the Slider and his well-known winning pitch, the Splitter.[2] Hongou was said to possess exceptionally good control for a power pitcher, capable of locating his pitch to inside and outside corners easily right from the starting inning.[6] Unlike Furuya who relies primarily on fastball, Hongou mixes up between the Fastball and the Splitter frequently and to devastating effect and he doesn't shy away from revealing the breaking pitches early to the lead-of runner. Perhaps Hongou's greatest strength is his high intensity which allows him to stay focus right from the start and his ability to channel his frustration to enhance his pitching. It is said that the more stress he builds up the better he can performs.[3] Different from other pitchers who may have moments of weakness throughout the course of a game, Hongou is able to maintain his high intensity throughout a full game, constantly staying serious while not overconfident which allows him to raise his already high level repeatedly as the game continues.
Trivia
- Hongou is said to have pitched toe to toe against Mei in the Koshien Final in his first year. [10]
- His pitch speed was in the high 140s in his first year. He has been consistently hitting 150 km/h and over in his second year. [10]
- Hongou did not lose a single run en route to winning the Spring Koshien title.
Gallery
Quotes
- "The one who is playing is me, bystanders should keep their mouth shut!" [10]
- "We haven't come from Hokkaido to have fun playing baseball. We're here at Koshien to seize the Championship Pennant. How can some weakling city boy like you possibly stop us!" - to Furuya [3]
References
- ↑ Act II - Chapter 5
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Act II - Chapter 2
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Act II - Chapter 6
- ↑ Act II - Chapter 4
- ↑ Act II - Chapter 6
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Act II - Chapter 5
- ↑ Act II - Chapter 7
- ↑ Act II - Chapter 11
- ↑ Komadai has previously won the 89th Summer Koshien and the Meiji Jingu.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Act II - Chapter 2