Nippon-Ham announced on the 28th that they have reached an agreement with pitcher Kohei Arihara (33), who was released from Softbank Hawks. Arihara, who will be returning to his former team for the first time in six years on a four-year contract worth 2.8 billion yen, an unusual amount for a team, commented through the team, "I am very happy to have been associated with The Fighters, the place where my professional baseball career began." He vowed to repay the favor to his former team, where he played for six years since joining in 2015.

With the addition of Arihara, who won the most games this season with 14, he and Ito now form a most-winner duo. This is the first time since 2012 that two pitchers have been named the most-winners in the previous year after transferring from another team that the same team has had multiple pitcher named as the most-winners in the previous year, with The Giants' Uchiumi and Holton (Softbank Hawks the previous year). "Under Manager Shinjo's guidance, I want to swing my arm with all my might and inning as long as possible to contribute to the team as we aim for victory," said Arihara. With these two aces at their core, Shinjo-Ham will aim to win the league championship for the first time in 10 years and become the best team in Japan next season.