Nori Aoki facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Norichika Aoki青木 宣親 |
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Aoki with the Tokyo Yakult Swallows in 2018
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| Outfielder | |||||||||||||||||
| Born: January 5, 1982 Hyūga, Miyazaki, Japan |
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| Professional debut | |||||||||||||||||
| NPB: July 17, 2004, for the Yakult Swallows | |||||||||||||||||
| MLB: April 6, 2012, for the Milwaukee Brewers | |||||||||||||||||
| Last appearance | |||||||||||||||||
| NPB: October 5, 2024, for the Tokyo Yakult Swallows | |||||||||||||||||
| MLB: October 1, 2017, for the New York Mets | |||||||||||||||||
| NPB statistics | |||||||||||||||||
| Batting average | .313 | ||||||||||||||||
| Hits | 1,956 | ||||||||||||||||
| Home runs | 145 | ||||||||||||||||
| Runs batted in | 667 | ||||||||||||||||
| Stolen bases | 177 | ||||||||||||||||
| MLB statistics | |||||||||||||||||
| Batting average | .285 | ||||||||||||||||
| Hits | 774 | ||||||||||||||||
| Home runs | 33 | ||||||||||||||||
| Runs batted in | 219 | ||||||||||||||||
| Stolen bases | 98 | ||||||||||||||||
| Teams | |||||||||||||||||
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| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||||||
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Medals
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Norichika "Nori" Aoki (青木 宣親, Aoki Norichika, born January 5, 1982) is a Japanese former professional baseball outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for several teams. These included the Milwaukee Brewers, Kansas City Royals, San Francisco Giants, Seattle Mariners, Houston Astros, Toronto Blue Jays, and New York Mets. He also played in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for the Tokyo Yakult Swallows.
Aoki is one of only six players in Japanese professional baseball history to get 200 or more hits in a single season. He is the only player to do this in two different seasons. He represented Japan in the World Baseball Classic in 2006, 2009, and 2017. He also played in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Contents
Early Life and College Baseball
Norichika Aoki was born in Hyūga, Miyazaki, Japan. He went to local schools before attending Miyazaki Prefectural Hyuga High School. Interestingly, he was a pitcher during his junior high and high school years. He switched to playing in the outfield when he went to Waseda University. There, he studied human sciences.
At Waseda University, Aoki played with many talented baseball players. These included shortstop Takashi Toritani and left-handed pitcher Tsuyoshi Wada. These players, along with Aoki, formed a very strong lineup. They helped Waseda win four straight Tokyo Big6 titles. This was a first for the university.
Aoki was a great hitter in college. In 2002, he hit .463 in the spring season. He also set a Tokyo Big6 record by scoring six runs in one game against the University of Tokyo. In that game, he got five hits, five RBI, and one walk. During his college career, he hit .332. He was chosen for the Tokyo Big6 Best Nine Award three times as the starting right fielder. In 2003, the Yakult Swallows picked him in the fourth round of the NPB amateur draft.
Professional Baseball Career
Starting with the Yakult Swallows
In 2004, Aoki's first year as a professional, he did not play much in the top league (ichigun). He only played 10 games. However, he showed great potential in the minor leagues. He hit .372 and led the Eastern League in batting average and on-base percentage. He also came in second for stolen bases with 21. In the Fresh All-Star Game that year, Aoki got four hits in five tries. He almost hit for the cycle and won the Most Valuable Player award for the game.
In 2005, Aoki had a fantastic year. He became the starting center fielder for the Swallows. He started slowly but soon began getting hits regularly. By June, he was batting first in the lineup as the leadoff batter. On October 6, 2005, he tied the Central League record for hits in a single season with 192. A few days later, on October 11, he became only the second player in NPB history to get 200 hits in one season. The first was Ichiro Suzuki.
Aoki finished the 2005 season with 202 hits, which was a new league record. He led all Central League players in batting average (.344) and hits. He was also named the league's Most Valuable Rookie.
In 2006, Aoki was chosen to play for the Japanese national team in the first World Baseball Classic. In July, he played in his second All-Star game. He was named the Most Valuable Player in Game 1, which was played at his home stadium. He was the fourth player in NPB history to win both the Fresh All-Star Game and All-Star Game MVP awards.
He finished the 2006 season with 192 hits, leading both the Central and Pacific leagues. He improved his on-base percentage and hit more home runs (13). He also led the league in stolen bases with 41. On December 25, 2006, Aoki said he wanted to play in the major leagues someday.
In 2007, Aoki and teammate Alex Ramírez were both competing for the batting title. On July 10, 2007, Aoki became the fastest player in Japanese baseball history to reach 500 career hits, doing it in just 373 games. He finished the season with 193 hits and won his second batting title with a .346 average. He also led the league in on-base percentage for the first time.
Aoki's stolen base total dropped in 2007, but he started to show more power. He hit 20 home runs and had a slugging percentage over .500 for the first time. He played in the Asian Baseball Championship in December 2007, helping Japan qualify for the Beijing Olympics.
In May 2008, Aoki had to miss some games due to an oblique strain. This was the first time he missed playing due to an injury. He returned later that month and continued to play well. In August 2008, he played in the Beijing Olympics for Japan. He finished the season with a personal-best batting average of .347.
In 2009, Aoki played well in the second World Baseball Classic. However, he struggled at the start of the 2009 season. He was hit in the head by a pitch in April but was not seriously injured.
Playing in Major League Baseball (MLB)
The Swallows allowed Aoki to join Major League Baseball through the posting system after the 2011 season. The Milwaukee Brewers won the bid and signed Aoki in January 2012. He was the first Japanese player to join the Brewers this way.
Aoki played more and more as the 2012 season went on. He hit .288 with 10 home runs, 50 RBI, and 30 stolen bases. He often batted first in the lineup for the Brewers. Aoki also set a Brewers rookie record with 37 doubles in a season. On June 7, 2012, he hit his first MLB home run. He then hit a second home run in the same game, which was a walk-off hit to win the game. On June 24, 2012, Aoki got 3 hits and 4 stolen bases, tying a Brewers team record. He finished 5th in the National League Rookie of the Year voting.
In 2013, Aoki was the Brewers' starting right fielder and leadoff hitter. He hit .286 with 8 home runs, 37 RBI, and 20 stolen bases in 155 games.
Kansas City Royals
On December 5, 2013, the Brewers traded Aoki to the Kansas City Royals. He batted leadoff for the Royals for most of the 2014 season. He hit .285 for the season.
On August 6, 2014, Aoki hit his first career grand slam against the Arizona Diamondbacks. He also set a Royals record by getting 11 hits in a three-game series. This broke the old record of 10 hits held by Willie Wilson and George Brett.
Aoki played in the MLB postseason for the first time with the Royals in 2014. He helped the team win their first playoff game in 29 years. He played right field for the Royals as they made it to the 2014 World Series. The Royals lost the Series in seven games.
San Francisco Giants
On January 19, 2015, Aoki signed a one-year deal with the San Francisco Giants. On May 3, 2015, he hit a solo home run to start the game. His teammate, Joe Panik, then hit a home run right after him. This was the first time since 1964 that the Giants started a game with two home runs in a row.
On June 20, 2015, Aoki was hit by a pitch and broke a bone in his leg. This caused him to miss 28 games. He was hitting .317 at the time and was playing very well. After he returned, he was hit by another pitch, this time in the helmet. He then missed more games due to a concussion. In 2015, he hit .287 and led the Giants with 14 stolen bases. After the season, the Giants did not keep him, and he became a free agent.
Seattle Mariners
On December 3, 2015, Aoki signed a one-year contract with the Seattle Mariners. In 2016, he played in 118 games for the Mariners. He hit .283 with four home runs and 28 RBI.
Houston Astros
The Houston Astros picked up Aoki from the Mariners on November 3, 2016. On June 11, 2017, Aoki got his 2000th career professional hit. This included hits from both NPB and MLB. Even though he was traded before the Astros won the World Series in 2017, he received a World Series ring. This was because he played 70 games for them that year.
Toronto Blue Jays
On July 31, 2017, the Astros traded Aoki to the Toronto Blue Jays. He played in 12 games for Toronto, hitting .281 with 3 home runs. The Blue Jays released him on August 29, 2017.
New York Mets
On September 2, 2017, the New York Mets signed Aoki. He played in 27 games for New York, hitting .284. The Mets released him on October 30, 2017.
Return to the Tokyo Yakult Swallows
On January 30, 2018, Aoki signed a three-year deal to return to the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. This was the team where he started his professional career. In May 2018, Aoki reached 4,000 at-bats in NPB. With a career batting average of .328 at that point, he became NPB's lifetime batting champion. He was also selected for the 2018 NPB All-Star game.
Aoki played 72 games for the Swallows in 2024. He announced on September 14, 2024, that he would retire at the end of the season.
International Baseball Career
2006 World Baseball Classic
Aoki was chosen for the Japanese national team for the first World Baseball Classic in 2006. He did not play much in the early rounds. However, he became the starting center fielder in the semi-finals and finals. Japan won the tournament, becoming the first champions.
2007 Asian Baseball Championship
Aoki played in the 2007 Asian Baseball Championship. This tournament also helped teams qualify for the Beijing Olympics. He helped Japan secure a spot in the upcoming Olympics.
2008 Beijing Olympics
Aoki played in all nine games at the 2008 Beijing Olympics as Japan's starting center fielder. He hit .294 with seven RBI. Japan lost in the semi-finals and finished in fourth place.
2009 World Baseball Classic
Aoki played in the World Baseball Classic for the second time in 2009. He played left field and hit .324 with seven RBI. He played a key role in Japan winning the tournament again. Aoki was also named to the All-Tournament team.
2017 World Baseball Classic
Aoki played center field for Team Japan in the 2017 World Baseball Classic. His team finished in 3rd place.
How Aoki Played Baseball
Hitting Style
Aoki is about 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighs around 180 pounds. He is known as a great contact hitter. This means he can hit the ball to all parts of the field. He also uses his speed to turn singles into doubles and doubles into triples. In college, he was good at hitting infield singles to get on base. He continued this style in professional baseball. Teams even started using an "Aoki Shift" to try and stop him.
Over the years, Aoki developed more power. He became a threat to hit for power as well as a high average. He was known for having several different batting stances. If he was not hitting well, he would change his stance. He believed that moving his lower body was very important for his hitting.
Fielding Skills
Aoki was also known as an excellent center fielder. He had great instincts and could cover a lot of ground. He won six Golden Glove awards in a row from 2006 to 2011. He also led all outfielders in the Central League in putouts in 2006 and 2007. His throwing arm was accurate, and he released the ball quickly.
In his first MLB season, Aoki made nine putouts in one game while playing right field. This was almost a National League record. He was known throughout the Brewers team as a very strong defender.
Personal Life
Norichika Aoki is married to Sachi Ohtake, who used to be a broadcaster in Japan. They have two children together.
