Ryota Arai

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 and Leon Lee scored homers in the same game for the former Lotte Orions (currently Chiba Lotte Marines).

On August, Hanshin manager Yutaka Wada 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, 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.

Ryota is of Korean-Japanese descent, but was naturalized along with his brother in June 2004. 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 in July 25, 2006, at the time he was struck out, then left fielder Tomoaki Kanemoto said "You look too much like your brother!". Up to this day, both brothers still hold deep respect for Kanemoto.

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.

Ryota Arai (新井 良太 , Arai Ryota, born August 16, 1983 in Hiroshima) is a Japanese professional baseball infielder for the Hanshin Tigers in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball.

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.

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. He continued as a clean-up hitter until he strained his left thigh in 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. Afterwards, he hit a slump and was demoted to being the 7th/8th batter, and the clean-up position was assigned to Matt Murton. 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 Swallows. He is the 4th Tiger player to hit 3 grand slams in a single season, after Hal Breeden, Kōichi Tabuchi and Makoto Imaoka.