A continuing look at the Rangers 40-man roster.

KOHEI ARIHARA 
Age: 28
Right-Handed Pitcher

In 2012, the Rangers dipped into the Japanese pitching free agent pool and plucked out Yu Darvish, who had four-and-a-half very good seasons with the Rangers, wrapped around a season missed due to Tommy John surgery.

Eight years later, they are back at it. This time, coming up with Kohei Arihara. 

In six seasons in the Japanese league with Nippon-Ham, he was 61-53 with a 3.95 ERA, and a WHIP of 1.195. Not super impressive but much better than what the Rangers run out on a nightly basis. 

In 2020, Arihara struck out 106 batters in 132 innings. He throws both a four-seam and two-seam fastball in the low 90s, and has a splitter in the high 80s.  

He’s generally considered a mid-rotation pitcher. But on this Rangers team, that’s as close to a number-one as you’re going to get. Expect some growing pains as Arihara familiarizes himself with the major league style of baseball, if he is able to stay awake that long.