Nori Aoki 青木宣親 |
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![]() Aoki with the Kansas City Royals in 2014.
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Houston Astros – No. 3 | |||
Outfielder | |||
Born: Hyūga, Miyazaki, Japan |
January 5, 1982 |||
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Professional debut | |||
NPB: July 17, 2004, for the Yakult Swallows | |||
MLB: April 6, 2012, for the Milwaukee Brewers | |||
NPB statistics | |||
Batting average | .329 | ||
Hits | 1,284 | ||
Home runs | 84 | ||
Runs batted in | 385 | ||
Stolen bases | 164 | ||
MLB statistics (through June 17, 2017) |
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Batting average | .285 | ||
Stolen bases | 92 | ||
Home runs | 29 | ||
Runs batted in | 195 | ||
Teams | |||
Career highlights and awards | |||
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Medal record | ||
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Men's baseball | ||
Representing ![]() |
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World Baseball Classic | ||
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2006 San Diego | Team |
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2009 Los Angeles | Team |
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2017 Los Angeles | Team |
Norichika "Nori" Aoki (青木 宣親 Aoki Norichika, born January 5, 1982) is a Japanese professional baseball outfielder for the Houston Astros of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played for the Milwaukee Brewers, Kansas City Royals, San Francisco Giants, and Seattle Mariners of MLB and for the Tokyo Yakult Swallows of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB).
Aoki is one of only six players, alongside Ichiro Suzuki, Matt Murton, Alex Ramirez, Tsuyoshi Nishioka and Shogo Akiyama, to amass 200 or more hits in a single season in Japanese professional baseball, and the only individual to do so in two separate seasons. He played in the 2006 and 2009 World Baseball Classics as well as the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and represented Japan in the 2017 World Baseball Classic.
Aoki was born in Hyūga, Miyazaki, and attended Hyuga Municipal Hichiya Elementary School and Tomishima Junior High School before going on to Miyazaki Prefectural Hyuga High School. Surprisingly, he was a pitcher throughout junior high and high school, converting to the outfield only upon entering Waseda University, where he majored in human sciences.