Takaya Abe  

Taka, 阿部 隆也

Abe is the teams catcher, and also one of their better batters. His skills as a catcher were developed during middle school, when he played in the Seniors league. Abe was paired with a talented pitcher named Haruna, whose pitches were so hard and lacking in control that he was constantly covered in bruises. However, he persevered, knowing that if he could catch Harunas pitches, he would gain a place as a regular. Although he succeeded, Abe soon began to resent Haruna, who strictly refused to throw more than 80 pitches per game, even if it meant walking off the field, and never followed Abes signs. Because of this, Abe initially values Mihashi for his obedience, desire to stay on the mound, and control. However, he comes to appreciate just how much work Mihashi puts in, and is determined to win games using Mihashis pitching and prove to him that he is a good pitcher. Abe has a very short temper, particularly with Mihashi, and is noted to have a loud voice, even when laughing, which intimidates not only Mihashi but sometimes his other teammates too. However, when this is pointed out to him, he takes great pains to be more patient with Mihashi and speak more gently. He was charged by Momoe to look after Mihashi, and he takes this very seriously, constantly monitoring Mihashis practicing, what he is eating, and how much sleep hes getting, causing Izumi to note that hes very bossy. Abe is also a driving force on the field, generally shouting out instructions to his teammates during play, and closely analyzing the opposition. He uses this habit to his advantage as he is very good at predicting which of Mihashis pitches will cause a batter to strike out.