Former Rangers right-hander Kohei Arihara’s bid to return to MLB is over. The veteran will remain in NPB, signing a four-year deal with the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, reports Yuri Karasawa of World Baseball Network (Yakyu Cosmopolitan on X). Arihara will earn about $15.4MM, adds Karasawa.
After three seasons with the SoftBank Hawks, Arihara became a free agent on December 2. Reports emerged in late November that the righty was considering coming stateside. Instead, he’ll head back to the team he debuted with back in 2018. Arihara’s solid results with the club from 2018 to 2020 earned him a big-league look with the Rangers. After two injury-plagued MLB seasons, Arihara returned to NPB in 2023. He posted three strong years with the Hawks, including a 2.36 ERA over 26 starts in 2024.
It’s unclear if Arihara was generating interest at the MLB level. The notion that he would leave NPB may have been a negotiating tactic, and it seems to have worked. As Karasawa points out, the AAV of Arihara’s contract approaches $4MM, a hefty number by NPB standards.
Arihara’s stint in MLB was ruined by a serious shoulder injury. After a handful of decent outings to open his career, the righty was slowed by an arm issue that ended up being an aneurysm in his throwing shoulder. Surgery knocked him out until the final month of the 2021 season. He was hammered for nine earned runs over 12 innings once he returned to the mound. Arihara made it back up with the Rangers the following year, but posted a 9.45 ERA across 20 innings. He was designated for assignment in September 2022 and hit free agency at the end of the season.
Photo courtesy of Jim Cowsert, Imagn Images
The boy wants to fight ham.
“Nippon-Ham Fighters”
They have a heated rivalry with the Tokyo-Jello Wrestlers.
Even though I’m a Yomiuri fam, I still respect the Fighters team. Good signing, stealing from my second favourite team, SoftBank.
Kohei is going HAM!
He is going to ham it up!
He debuted with the Fighters in 2015, not 18
Was typing this out when I saw your comment
Nice to see him continuing to have fun and enjoy a livelihood playing a kids game. We all would love to be in that spot.
I don’t care about any other sport besides baseball, really.
Do football (American or World), basketball, hockey, etc also get referred to as “a kids [sic] game”?
Prolly only soccer – futbol
He shall now fight ham.
As long as he’s not ham fisted..
Mhmm, ham fighter 🤤
You can listen to the games on your ham radio.
Here is one Japanese pitcher who got hit hard in the MLB.
There’s other Japanese pitchers who haven’t been hit hard here, just letting you know.
Sb
I think that was their point
That from Nomo to Yamamoto, there have been a lot of NBP pitchers who have succeeded in MLB. Arihara didn’t.
Arigato, Arihara.
Ham, your days are numbered.
The Fightin’ Pigs!
(Sounds like a small school football team.)
Maybe Hormel can buy the Twins and rename the team to the Spam Fighters.
Does this team have a pigpen instead of a bullpen?