Toa Tokuchi

Toua Tokuchi (渡久地 東亜)is the main character in the series, One Outs. In the beginning he was part of a gambling game based on baseball called 'One Outs'. After losing a game of One Outs to the cleanup batter for the Lycaons, Hiromichi Kojima, he becomes the star pitcher for the team.

Appearance
Tokuchi is a relatively tall, skinny man, with a somewhat muscular build. He has medium length blonde hair that is always shown to be spiked upwards. He has small, dark eyes with small bags under them. He is usually seen wearing his uniform or a baggy blue t-shirt with light blue jeans and brownish sneakers. Most of the time he is seen smoking.

Personality
Tokuchi is usually seen as a laid-back, disrespectful person. He doesn't seem to be bothered by ordering around others or being trash talked to. He is very bold, as demonstrated when he creates an outrageous contract with the Lycaon's owner, Tsuneo Saikawa, and orders the Lycaon's manager, Yuuzaburou Mihara, to light his cigarette. He is also shown to have a somewhat kind personality when he agrees with Kojima that he had thrown a beanball, when in actuality Tokuchi had pitched in the strike zone and Kojima had stepped in the zone. After the act, he tells Kojima to take his bat and break his right arm, to which Kojima says that he never said he was going to break his arm, and asks him to join the Lycaons.

Tokuchi was called an 'outrageous rookie' for taking Yoshida out of the defense during the game against the Eagles. He is also not polite nor considerate enough to restrain himself from provoking his opponent. In fact, it seems to be a favorite tactic of his. He was also not scared to use any means necessary to get what he wanted; he intentionally pitched a dangerous ball to a batter to get ejected from the game with the Eagles.

Tokuchi is also extremely perceptive, and is accustomed to various ways of cheating and deceit involved in baseball. Many of his abilities in this area are most likely due to his background, being an extremely successful gambler. This is demonstrated in many ways, such as the countless times Saikawa, the Lycaon's owner, has attempted to sabotage Tokuchi to garner more money. Tokuchi has seen through all of it, and earned even more in the process.

Tokuchi is almost never flustered. Even when he had runs stacked against him in the three consecutive Mariner vs Lycaon games, he calmly figured out a way to negate the runs while gaining some by himself, making use of the rain and pretending to turn the game into a no-game. In the process, the Mariners became distraught and were only concerned about the time, while the Lycaons made a turnaround in the confusion.

However, in the latest chapters coming out at this time, Takami, the ace of the Mariners, has appeared to have figured out a working way to counter Tokuchi's abilities. In chapter 154, Tokuchi actually seems to be stressed, and sweat shows on his face. This shows that he can indeed become worried, even with his dominating presence of confidence.

Contract with the Lycaons
When Tokuchi had been accepted into the Lycaons, he and Saikawa agreed to a contract. The contract states that for every out he gets, he is paid 5 million yen, and for every run he loses, he pays Saikawa 50 million yen in return. Amendments were made later which states:

1. Always follow instructions from the dugout

2. Definition of a 'run' is any run lost during a pitching appearance, not just 'earned runs'

3. Contract rate can be adjusted depending on the importance of the game

4. Existence of the contract can only be known to the 4 people present.

If clause 1 is broken, a fine of 500m is in place, and if clause 4 is broken,  there is a fine of 500m and any salary up to that point will be invalidated.

New One Outs Contract Rules
Incidentally, the three, Kurai, Muruwaka, and Sugadaira, do not know they are taking part in such a contract.
 * 1) Tokuchi, Kurai, Muruwaka, and Sugadaria's total records will decide Tokuchi's annual salary.
 * 2) For Tokuchi and Kurai, for every out, +5m, and one earned run is -50m.
 * 3) For Muruwaka and Sugadaria, one RBI is +50m and every 3 outs is -50m.

Story
Prior to the manga, Tokuchi had been gambling in Okinawa, with 499 wins and 1 loss (to Kojima). By the 10th chapter, after he lost a game of One Outs to Kojima, he was told to "come to the pros...and please, with your abilities, lead the Lycaons to a Championship".

As he joined the team abruptly and with most of the members attributing Kojima's injury with Tokuchi's fault, he was not particularly welcome at first.

Abilities
As commented on by Ideguchi, Lycaons' starting Catcher, Toua's pitches are 'even worse than a high schooler's'.

According to his Resume which was given to Saikawa Owner, he has no particular achievements (regarding baseball) except for his wins in One Outs.

However, despite Tokuchi's resume and Ideguchi's observation, Tokuchi is one of the most deadly pitchers in the baseball world.

Indeed, his pitches are slow enough to be regarded as 'worse than a high schooler's,' but that is not what makes his pitching so terrifying. In the first game, Lycaons vs. Fingers, Kawanaka, the opposing pitcher, comments on how good Tokuchi's pitching is.

Tokuchi's most important ability is probably his ability to 'seemingly read minds.' Tokuchi is able to observe his opponent and pitch a pitch that will completely defy all his batters expectations. For instance, when Takami noticed that Tokuchi could throw a low-spin ball, all the batters decided he'd throw normal balls to save his arm strength till the end for the low-spin ball, however, while they thought this, Tokuchi threw low-spin balls and struck out all the batters.

Which leads us to another one of his abilities. Tokuchi can control the amount of spins on the ball that he throws. Using this tactic, he can make a ball drop slightly, like a diluted forkball. He can also make the ball rise by putting more spins on the ball. These pitches are what causes the batters to strike out most of the time. By reading the batters' minds and throwing the according pitch, its almost impossible to hit Tokuchi's ball. "It's as if the ball was moving away from the bat," is a quote from Thomas on the Mariners team.

Tokuchi also decides what pitch he will throw right when he throws the pitch, not before the pitch is thrown. This allows him to see the batters thoughts more accurately, and he is able to do this because his pitches are decided by the amount of spins on the ball, and so he can decide which pitch to throw at the last instant.

Trivia

 * It is seen in the manga that Tokuchi signs his name as "Toa Tokuchi".
 * Toua is not seen to take many things seriously, as shown when he fell asleep in the dugout in his second game.
 * He is very confident and doesn't 'need' practice throws before a game.
 * Ideguchi Satoshi was the first in Lycaons (other than Kojima) to realise Toua's talent.
 * Tokuchi can be seen wearing a crucifix, suggesting that he's Catholic (Vol 13, Chapter 114)
 * Tokuchi looks like Hiruma from Eyeshield 21.