Kohei Arihara, who has been transferred to Nippon-Ham, updated his X (formerly Twitter) on the 28th and posted a message of gratitude to Softbank Hawks, where he played for three years until this season.

Arihara expressed his gratitude, saying, "During my three years with The Hawks, I was able to play thoughtful baseball while competing with The Hawks nine, and under Manager Kokubo, we were able to win the league championship twice in a row and become the best team in Japan. These are memories that I will cherish forever." He continued, "Above all, I am filled with gratitude to The Hawks fans who welcomed me with warm applause from my first appearance in my first year with the team. They called my name no matter what the situation, and I felt their support very encouragingly from mound."

"I will be on a different team from now on, but as a baseball player, I would like to give it my all in the game ahead. Thank you to Minei, Takuya, Umino, Tani, and Riku for continuing to communicate with me during the game! Thank you to all The Hawks players, staff, and club members!" he wrote.

Arihara has been with Softbank Hawks since 2011, recording 10 wins in his first year, and last season he won the most wins title (14 wins) for the first time since his time with Nippon-Ham. He was instrumental in the team's first league championship in four years. This season he also won the most wins title (14 wins), pitching 26 games and 175 innings with a record of 14 wins and 9 losses and ERA of 3.03.