Headlines

  • Phillies Reportedly Targeting Controllable Relievers
  • Yankees Prioritizing Pitching, Also Searching For Infield Help
  • Orioles Trade Bryan Baker To Rays
  • Yankees Release DJ LeMahieu
  • Trevor Williams To Undergo UCL Surgery
  • Nationals Fire PBO Mike Rizzo, Manager Dave Martinez
  • Previous
  • Next
Register
Login
  • Hoops Rumors
  • Pro Football Rumors
  • Pro Hockey Rumors

MLB Trade Rumors

Remove Ads
  • Home
  • Teams
    • AL East
      • Baltimore Orioles
      • Boston Red Sox
      • New York Yankees
      • Tampa Bay Rays
      • Toronto Blue Jays
    • AL Central
      • Chicago White Sox
      • Cleveland Guardians
      • Detroit Tigers
      • Kansas City Royals
      • Minnesota Twins
    • AL West
      • Houston Astros
      • Los Angeles Angels
      • Oakland Athletics
      • Seattle Mariners
      • Texas Rangers
    • NL East
      • Atlanta Braves
      • Miami Marlins
      • New York Mets
      • Philadelphia Phillies
      • Washington Nationals
    • NL Central
      • Chicago Cubs
      • Cincinnati Reds
      • Milwaukee Brewers
      • Pittsburgh Pirates
      • St. Louis Cardinals
    • NL West
      • Arizona Diamondbacks
      • Colorado Rockies
      • Los Angeles Dodgers
      • San Diego Padres
      • San Francisco Giants
  • About
    • MLB Trade Rumors
    • Tim Dierkes
    • Writing team
    • Advertise
    • Archives
  • Contact
  • Tools
    • 2025 Trade Deadline Outlook Series
    • 2025-26 MLB Free Agent List
    • Contract Tracker
    • Transaction Tracker
    • Agency Database
  • NBA/NFL/NHL
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
    • Pro Hockey Rumors
  • App
  • Chats
Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Rangers’ Kohei Arihara To Undergo Shoulder Surgery

By Mark Polishuk | May 22, 2021 at 1:51pm CDT

Rangers right-hander Kohei Arihara will undergo surgery on his throwing shoulder, Texas GM Chris Young told reporters (including MLB.com’s Manny Randhawa and Sports Illustrated’s Chris Halicke).  The surgery will fix an aneurysm that was found in Arihara’s shoulder earlier this week.  It will be 12 weeks before Arihara can even resume throwing, so it is quite possible that Arihara’s 2021 season is finished.

Arihara was already on the injured list due to a contusion on his right middle finger, an issue that was revealed as being related to the aneurysm.  Young suggested that the aneurysm impacted Arihara’s performance over three starts prior to the IL placement, as Arihara was hit hard to the tune of a 17.28 ERA over 8 1/3 innings.

Baseball is hardly the first matter of concern at this point, however, as Young described the issue as “a very serious condition if it’s not treated, and we’re very fortunate that this was caught early and we didn’t continue to push it with [Arihara].”

Arihara signed a two-year, $6.2MM contract with Texas in the offseason, a deal that cost the Rangers an additional $1.24MM in posting fees to Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, Arihara’s NPB team.  Arihara was a stalwart member of the Fighters’ rotation from 2015-20, posting a 3.74 ERA over 836 innings with a pitching repertoire that relied more on control and off-speed pitches rather than velocity.  (Arihara’s fastball averaged only 91mph this season.)

The Rangers and their fans saw some of this during Arihara’s first four starts of 2021, presumably before his aneurysm problems developed.  Arihara had a 2.21 ERA over his first 20 1/3 innings pitched in the big leagues, issuing 13 strikeouts against three walks.  If this is indeed it for Arihara in 2021, he’ll finish his rookie campaign with a 6.59 ERA/5.57 SIERA in 28 2/3 innings.

Young didn’t comment on how Texas would address Arihara’ rotation spot, though Hyeon-Jong Yang would seem like the favorite to remain in the starting five.  Drew Anderson, Brock Burke, or Wes Benjamin are some of the most likely options at Triple-A if the Rangers dipped into the farm system.

Share 0 Retweet 30 Send via email0

Newsstand Texas Rangers Kohei Arihara

Marlins Place Jordan Holloway On 10-Day IL, Select Shawn Morimando
Main
Mets Designate Jake Hager
View Comments (8)
Post a Comment

8 Comments

  1. thebaseballfanatic

    4 years ago

    Aneurysms are scary. Wish Arihara the best and I hope he’ll be alright.

    9
    Reply
    • BrittinghamSports

      4 years ago

      Rangers29, if you happen to see this, isn’t this the Rangers pitcher you wrote your first article about? It seemed like you were high on him at the time because of the number of different pitches he threw. I was pretty skeptical at the time due to his age and lack of velocity. He reminded me of when the Braves signed Kenshin Kawakami. Kawakami had won the Japanese version of the Cy Young award multiple times but he was about the same age as Arihara. Kawakami also didn’t throw very hard. When he came to Atlanta I think the Braves gave him a 3-year $24 million deal and ended up eating the last $8 million by releasing him before the 3rd season. Kawakami was literally never any good at all in America. I don’t understand how he was ever considered one of the best pitchers in Japan. At least the Rangers were smart enough to not pay Arihara that much. Even including his posting fee Frank Wren’s Braves decided to pay Kawakami more money per year than Arihara’s entire contract. Wren agreed to do that every year for 3 straight years. The Braves tried to get Kawakami to agree to spend some time at Triple-A and figure things out since he never pitched well at the major league level but he refused. I don’t know why anyone thought a soft tossing pitcher around 30 years old with zero MLB or even MiLB experience was worth $8 million a year. Only Frank Wren was that dumb. That’s not surprising though were each worth about $15 million per year on even longer term deals. Hopefully Arihara turns out better for the Rangers but I don’t see it. MLB players don’t care about how many pitches a pitcher can throw like they do in Japan. I’ve heard of guys from there who could supposed throw 10 or even 11 pitches but they get lit up over here. When you throw that many pitches it’s usually indicative that you have to because you don’t throw any pitches very well. If a pitches has 2 or 3 good pitches he can get away with only throwing the pitches he’s good at. Mariano Rivera could only throw one pitch and he is in the Hall of Fame. 10+ pitches seems like it is intertwined with a lack of overall command. Command, movement (or spin rate) and velocity are all far more important the the number of pitches a pitcher throws. At least the Arihara contract isn’t big enough to be considered prohibitive for the Rangers. The Kawakami contract was for the Braves. Back then the Braves could have used that $8 million a year on a player that was actually very productive instead a guy who turned out to be a detriment to the team and refused to take the time to adjust so he could eventually help the team.

      3
      Reply
  2. Ducky Buckin Fent

    4 years ago

    Aww, man.
    Totally sucks.

    This guy is a blast to watch throw. 7 (maybe 8) distinct, viable pitches. I love watching pitchers work who have a unique style.

    Hope he recovers quickly & completely.
    All these injuries are such a drag.

    3
    Reply
  3. josebatflip

    4 years ago

    Agreed Ducky. He’s lots of fun, plus it’s actually kind of better to watch a pitcher that doesn’t rely so much on strikeouts. It’s getting tough to watch 10 strikeouts from every starter nowadays. It’s to the point where I’m ecstatic every time I see three balls put into play in a row now!

    4
    Reply
    • Ducky Buckin Fent

      4 years ago

      Saw him throw 6 shutout against the Angels.
      He absolutely flummoxed them.

      His 4 seamer is going to get squared up sometimes. My guess anyway. But that split finger FB is a good pitch. He was around 95 with it. That’ll play. & then he threw a half dozen (what I thought were anyway) other basically average MLB pitches.

      He seemed to have a definite plan when he was on the mound. Really mixed speeds & movement. He’s another bright spot on that Rangers squad.

      Reply
      • BeforeMcCourt

        4 years ago

        Sounds a lot like Maeda when he first came over. I enjoy a good KBO transition story. Hope this is relatively minor

        One of the quotes sounded pretty bad if they hadn’t found the aneurysm

        Reply
  4. DarkSide830

    4 years ago

    Mark, you mean Wes Benjamin?

    Reply
  5. Fire Jon Daniels

    4 years ago

    As usual Jon didn’t do his homework!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Please login to leave a reply.

Log in Register

    Top Stories

    Phillies Reportedly Targeting Controllable Relievers

    Yankees Prioritizing Pitching, Also Searching For Infield Help

    Orioles Trade Bryan Baker To Rays

    Yankees Release DJ LeMahieu

    Trevor Williams To Undergo UCL Surgery

    Nationals Fire PBO Mike Rizzo, Manager Dave Martinez

    Brewers Activate Brandon Woodruff

    Clarke Schmidt Expected To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

    Bobby Jenks Passes Away

    Braves Release Alex Verdugo

    Top 40 Trade Candidates For The 2025 Deadline

    Rays Reinstate Ha-Seong Kim

    Yankees Have Shown Interest In Ryan McMahon

    Royals Interested In Bryan Reynolds

    Rangers Option Josh Jung

    Kevin Pillar Announces Retirement

    Braves Place Spencer Schwellenbach On IL With Elbow Fracture

    Giants Exercise 2026 Option On Manager Bob Melvin

    Yordan Alvarez Shut Down Due To Setback With Hand Injury

    Astros Place Jeremy Peña On Injured List With Fractured Rib

    Recent

    Trade Deadline Outlook: New York Yankees

    Clarke Schmidt To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

    Trade Deadline Outlook: Atlanta Braves

    Phillies Reportedly Targeting Controllable Relievers

    Nationals Sign Francisco Mejia To Minor League Deal

    Yankees Prioritizing Pitching, Also Searching For Infield Help

    Orioles Select David Banuelos

    Orioles Trade Bryan Baker To Rays

    Yankees Release DJ LeMahieu

    White Sox Acquire Will Robertson From Blue Jays

    MLBTR Newsletter - Hot stove highlights in your inbox, five days a week

    Latest Rumors & News

    Latest Rumors & News

    • Sandy Alcantara Rumors
    • Luis Robert Rumors
    • Alex Bregman Rumors

     

    Trade Rumors App for iOS and Android App Store Google Play

    MLBTR Features

    MLBTR Features

    • Remove Ads, Support Our Writers
    • Front Office Originals
    • Front Office Fantasy Baseball
    • MLBTR Podcast
    • Trade Deadline Outlook Series
    • 2025-26 MLB Free Agent List
    • Contract Tracker
    • Transaction Tracker
    • Extension Tracker
    • Agency Database
    • MLBTR On Twitter
    • MLBTR On Facebook
    • Team Facebook Pages
    • How To Set Up Notifications For Breaking News
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
    • Pro Hockey Rumors

    Rumors By Team

    • Angels Rumors
    • Astros Rumors
    • Athletics Rumors
    • Blue Jays Rumors
    • Braves Rumors
    • Brewers Rumors
    • Cardinals Rumors
    • Cubs Rumors
    • Diamondbacks Rumors
    • Dodgers Rumors
    • Giants Rumors
    • Guardians Rumors
    • Mariners Rumors
    • Marlins Rumors
    • Mets Rumors
    • Nationals Rumors
    • Orioles Rumors
    • Padres Rumors
    • Phillies Rumors
    • Pirates Rumors
    • Rangers Rumors
    • Rays Rumors
    • Red Sox Rumors
    • Reds Rumors
    • Rockies Rumors
    • Royals Rumors
    • Tigers Rumors
    • Twins Rumors
    • White Sox Rumors
    • Yankees Rumors

    Navigation

    • Sitemap
    • Archives
    • RSS/Twitter Feeds By Team

    MLBTR INFO

    • Advertise
    • About
    • Commenting Policy
    • Privacy Policy

    Connect

    • Contact Us
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • RSS Feed

    MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

    Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

    hide arrows scroll to top

    Register

    Desktop Version | Switch To Mobile Version