is a Japanese former professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

infielder An infielder is a baseball player stationed at one of four defensive "infield" positions on the baseball field. Standard arrangement of positions In a game of baseball, two teams of nine players take turns playing offensive and defensive roles. ...

and current coach for the

Hanshin Tigers The Hanshin Tigers (Japanese: 阪神タイガース ''Hanshin Taigāsu'') are a Nippon Professional Baseball team playing in the Central League. The team is based in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, and is owned by Hanshin Electric Railway ...

in Japan's

Nippon Professional Baseball or NPB is the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning ''Professional Baseball''. Outside Japan, it is often just referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league can be traced back to the formation ...

. He played with the Chunichi Dragons from 2006 to 2010 and with the Tigers from 2011 to 2017. His elder brother Takahiro is also a former professional baseball player.

Early baseball career

He played

softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

from his 5th year in grade school, and continued when he attended the Satsukigaoka Junior High School in

Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui h ...

. In his 2nd year, his school team placed 3rd in the junior high softball tournament in China. He then attended Koryo High School where he played as first baseman. In the spring of his senior year, he was elected as team captain (4th batter) and participated in the finals of the

Japanese High School Baseball Invitational Tournament The National High School Baseball Invitational Tournament (選抜高等学校野球大会 ''senbatsu kōtō gakkō yakyū taikai'') of Japan, commonly known as "Spring Kōshien" (春の甲子園 ''haru no kōshien'') or "Senbatsu" (センバツ) ...

. In their battle with East Fukuoka High School, 2nd year Yuki Yoshimura pitched 3 scoreless innings, but ended up losing the game (4-8) in favor of Koryo.

Kentaro Nishimura is a former Japanese Nippon Professional Baseball player. He played with the Yomiuri Giants in Japan's Central League The or is one of the two professional baseball leagues that constitute Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner ...

and Shirahama Yuta, both one year his junior, played alongside him. He then entered

Komazawa University , abbreviated as 駒大 ''Komadai'', is one of the oldest universities in Japan. Its history starts in 1592, when a seminary was established to be a center of learning for the young monks of the Sōtō sect, one of the two main Zen Buddhist trad ...

where his team participated in the Tohto University Baseball League. Out of 79 games played in college, he recorded a .238 batting average, 63 hits, 49 RBIs and 14 home runs, and received the Best Nine Award twice.

Chunichi Dragons

He was drafted by the Chunichi Dragons during the off-season of 2005, and played for them from 2006 to 2010. He was given the jersey no. 25, same as his older brother.

Hanshin Tigers

2011 In the April 19 opening match with the

Yomiuri Giants The are a Japanese professional baseball team competing in Nippon Professional Baseball's Central League. Based in Bunkyo, Tokyo, they are one of two professional baseball teams based in Tokyo, the other being the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. They ...

right after his transfer to the

, Ryota hit his first professional walk-off hit. Three days later, his brother also hit a walk-off run against the

Yokohama DeNA BayStars The are a professional baseball team in the Japan, Japanese Central League. Their home field is Yokohama Stadium, located in central Yokohama. The team has been known by several names since becoming a professional team in 1950. It adopted its c ...

, making them the first-ever siblings from the same team to hit walk-off runs in the same season。 But on August 5, due to his recent performances not being up to par, he was demoted to the second squad.阪神タイガース公式サイト：ファームコラム「兄と同じく苦しむ弟」より
/ref> In that month, out of 32 at-bats, he only delivered 4 hits and a batting average of .125. In September, he recovered and returned to the first squad, but again fell into a slump later. He finished the season with a batting average below .200, and appeared only in 43 games, even less than that of his previous year. 2012 He played various positions during the 2012 season, from first and 3rd baseman, to left and right outfielder. His game appearances also gradually increased. On the July 17 match with the Giants, he hit the team's 7,000th home run. On the 29th of the same month, the Arai brothers both appeared in the starting line-up in the game vs. Yokohama, and to astonishment of everyone in their home court, both players hit groundbreaking home runs. This feat was last accomplished 31 years ago (1981), when brothers

Leron Lee Leron Lee (born March 4, 1948) is an American former professional left fielder. He played eight seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals, Los Angeles Dodgers, Cleveland Indians and San Diego Padres of Major League Baseball (MLB). He then played eleve ...

and Leon Lee scored homers in the same game for the former Lotte Orions (currently Chiba Lotte Marines). On August, Hanshin manager

Yutaka Wada is a retired Japanese baseball player for the Hanshin Tigers. He previously worked as a hitting coach for the Hanshin Tigers prior to the 2012 season. After the team failed to make the 2011 play-offs, team manager Akinobu Mayumi is the forme ...

appointed him as 3rd baseman and had him fixed as 4th batter in the line-up. During the 3rd inning of the August 12 game vs. the

Carps Carp are various species of oily freshwater fish from the family Cyprinidae, a very large group of fish native to Europe and Asia. While carp is consumed in many parts of the world, they are generally considered an invasive species in parts of ...

, he hit his first home run as a clean-up hitter. In the 6th inning of the same game, Takahiro again hit another home run, making it their 2nd same-game home run for the season. In addition, he again hit a 2-run walk-off homer in Koshien during the 11th inning of the September 2 match against Hiroshima. Total games played for the season was a personal-high of 110 games. He batted .280 and drove in 32 runs, including 11 home runs. 2013 Assigned as the 4th batter in the starting line-up, he delivered the 1st RBI of the season with his 2-base grounder during the March 29 season opening game with the

Swallows The swallows, martins, and saw-wings, or Hirundinidae, are a family of passerine songbirds found around the world on all continents, including occasionally in Antarctica. Highly adapted to aerial feeding, they have a distinctive appearance. The ...

. He continued as a clean-up hitter until he strained his left thigh on April 5, when he ran through 1st after hitting a grounder to short that turned into a double-play. He returned to the 1st squad as the third baseman and 6th hitter after a 10-day rest. He hit his first career grandslam on the May 19 game with the

Hawks Hawks are birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. They are widely distributed and are found on all continents except Antarctica. * The subfamily Accipitrinae includes goshawks, sparrowhawks, sharp-shinned hawks and others. This subfamily a ...

. Afterwards, he hit a slump and was demoted to being the 7th/8th batter, and the clean-up position was assigned to

Matt Murton Matthew Henry Murton (born October 3, 1981) is an American former professional baseball outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Chicago Cubs, Oakland Athletics, and Colorado Rockies. Murton also played in Nippon Professional ...

. Because of his lackluster performance as 3rd baseman, he was eventually demoted to playing in the 2nd squad during the latter part of the season interleague. When he returned on July 15, he hit his season's second grand slam against the BayStars in front of the home crowd at Koshien. He again hit another a week after in the game against the

. He is the 4th Tiger player to hit 3 grand slams in a single season, after

Hal Breeden Harold Noel Breeden (June 28, 1944 – May 3, 2021) was an American Major League Baseball player. Hal was a rarity in that he was a right-handed hitter who threw left-handed. He was also the brother of catcher Danny Breeden. After retirement from ...

Kōichi Tabuchi is a Japanese former professional baseball player, manager, and commentator. During his career, Tabuchi played for the Hanshin Tigers and the Seibu Lions. Tabuchi played catcher for the Hanshin Tigers from 1969 and 1978, where his combination wit ...

and Makoto Imaoka. Out of 119 game appearances, he recorded a career-best 14 home runs and 51 RBIs, but a lower batting average of .238. 2014 He started the season in excellent form, batting .338 and hitting 6 over the fence on his first month alone. But his performance dwindled in the month of May, and he was eventually demoted to the 2nd squad on June 25. He was able to make it back to the upper roster, but he only appeared as a pinch hitter or the occasional right fielder (7th batter), replacing Kosuke Fukudome who also fell into a slump. He started feeling lower back pain by the end of August, and was again taken off the roster for rehabilitation until the season ended, but he was able to play as pinch hitter and right fielder during the off-season play-offs. He only appeared in 78 games, but he nevertheless contributed 34 RBIs, including 7 home runs.

Personal life

Ryota is of Korean-Japanese descent, but was naturalized along with his brother in June 2004.官報平成16年6月9日付（本紙　第3867号）
（「官報」2004年6月9日付本紙　告示日本国に帰化を許可する件（法務二五五）） It is often told that his playing form and physique closely resembles that of his brother. According to an article in Chunichi News, when Ryota first appeared as a pinch hitter in a game vs Hanshin on July 25, 2006, at the time he was struck out, then left fielder

Tomoaki Kanemoto is a Japanese former professional baseball outfielder and manager. In his career as a player he spent 11 years with the Hiroshima Carp before moving to the Hanshin Tigers in 2003, where he spent another 10 years. He holds the world record for c ...

said "You look too much like your brother!". Up to this day, both brothers still hold deep respect for Kanemoto. He is also a calligraphy specialist.

References

External links

NPB stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arai, Ryota 1983 births Living people Chunichi Dragons players Hanshin Tigers players Japanese baseball coaches Japanese baseball players Japanese people of Korean descent Komazawa University alumni Naturalized citizens of Japan Nippon Professional Baseball coaches Nippon Professional Baseball first basemen Nippon Professional Baseball left fielders Nippon Professional Baseball right fielders Nippon Professional Baseball third basemen Baseball people from Hiroshima