Nori Aoki

Nori Aoki 青木宣親
Aoki with the Kansas City Royals in 2014.
Houston Astros – No. 3
Outfielder
Born: (1982-01-05) January 5, 1982 (age 35) Hyūga, Miyazaki, Japan
Bats: Left Throws: Right
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)
Batting average	.285
Stolen bases	92
Home runs	29
Runs batted in	195
Teams
Yakult Swallows/Tokyo Yakult Swallows (2004–2011) Milwaukee Brewers (2012–2013) Kansas City Royals (2014) San Francisco Giants (2015) Seattle Mariners (2016) Houston Astros (2017–present)
Career highlights and awards
7× NPB All-Star (2005–2011) 7× Best Nine Award (2005–2011) 6× Golden Glove Award (2006–2011) 3× CL batting champion (2005, 2007, 2010) 2× NPB All-Star Game MVP (2006 Game 1, 2009 Game 1) 2005 CL Rookie of the Year CL stolen base leader (2006) 2009 World Baseball Classic All-Tournament Team NPB Hall of Fame (2017)

Nori Aoki

Medal record
Men's baseball
Representing  Japan
World Baseball Classic
	2006 San Diego	Team
	2009 Los Angeles	Team
	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.