Former Rangers righty Kohei Arihara is returning to Japan for the 2023 season and will sign with the SoftBank Hawks of Nippon Professional Baseball, per reports from Japanese outlets The Manichi and Sports Hochi. Prior to his two-year MLB run in Texas, Arihara had spent six seasons with NPB’s Nippon-Ham Fighters.
Now 30 years old, Arihara’s brief time in the Majors was tanked by health woes. Originally signed to a two-year, $6.2MM contract, the right-hander posted a 2.21 ERA through his first four big league starts in Texas. His velocity dropped more than two miles per hour over his next four outings, however, and Arihara was shelled for 16 runs over a period of 8 1/3 innings before heading to the injured list. The Rangers discovered an aneurysm in his shoulder that required immediate surgery which sidelined him more than three months. At the time, GM Chris Young noted that it was “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 returned late in the 2021 season but pitched just a dozen innings in September. The Rangers removed him from the 40-man roster over the winter. He remained with the organization in 2022 and spent the bulk of his season with Triple-A Round Rock, though Texas did call on him for 20 Major League frames late in the summer. Arihara allowed 21 runs in those 20 innings, although a staggering 11 of them came in one outing against the Blue Jays where the Rangers seemingly left him on the mound in hopes of sparing the bullpen and designated him for assignment the next day.
All in all, Arihara tossed just 60 2/3 Major League innings for the Rangers in his time with the team. He’ll head back to his native Japan and look to further build upon what was a solid NPB career prior to his MLB audition. In 836 innings with the Fighters, Arihara notched a 3.74 ERA with an 18% strikeout rate and 5.5% walk rate. He was particularly sharp in his final two pre-Rangers seasons, logging a 2.91 ERA through 297 innings in 2019-20.
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Good riddance. Quite literally
since 2013 the rangers have the 3rd worst ERA in mlb. lol
And this helps. Also, adding 4 starters will help.
The collective ERA of their 6 starters, based on last year appearances is now 3.52. That would have been the 5th best in MLB. For comparisons purposes, the 2022 starters had a collective ERA of 4.63.
Finally! Some actual facts here too! Fangraphs, as absurd as it may be, projects the Rangers to have the 2nd best SP rotation WAR in baseball behind the Yankees. Idk if this guy is even a Rangers’ fan.
Nice. How many innings will they pitch? Lol
Let’s not get carried away by asking for innings…the first question is how many of these guys actually break spring training without major injury setbacks.
It was always weird how this guy got a major league contract. I don’t know how any scout would think a K rate under 20% in the NPB would play in the majors
@roiste – To be honest he was cheap & a bit Brett Anderson – I watched a few of his early starts and a couple of his ST games and we was really good. He looked like he had lots of street smarts and pitched well to weak contact
But I see on face of it – especially K rate – that is a red flag. The aneurism must have been terrifying.
Peter in London
I think it’s less of Arihara not being capable of pitching in MLB and more that the Rangers organization doesn’t understand pitching. They have the 5th worst ERA in MLB since 2017.
That’s probably around when Mike Maddux left. Their minor league development is trash and still is, though.
The Hawks also announced their now slogan…
https://www.softbankhawks.co.jp/news/detail/00006179.html
It’s Oh, Oh, Oh! ((おう!おう!おう! 鷹!鷹!鷹!)
For the English translation, this means Hawks, Hawks, Hawks!
Maybe some of the other MLB teams could copy it.
Rays, Rays, Rays!
O’s, O’s, O’s!
Stros, Stros, Stros!
Crew, Crew, Crew!
I’m here all week, folks! Ba Dum Tsh.
Cleveland’s old name: Spiders! Spiders! Spiders!
We are taking over!
Well fulfilled a dream to play in MLB, and showed he is not even AAA worthy either, so good luck back in Japan.
So long
Well, for his first four starts he looked pretty good.
I remember not all that long ago when Arihara was a hot commodity coming out of Japan and lots of people thought the Red Sox should sign him (not to say that things wouldn’t be different if they had)