With the NPB season about to wrap up, current Yakult Swallows and former MLB outfielder Nori Aoki will hang up the spikes at the end of the year. Aoki logged 21 professional seasons between Japan and the United States.
The 42-year-old made his NPB debut at 22 back in 2004 as a member of the Yakult Swallows. He would spend 2004-11 with the Swallows, with six seasons where he had an average above .300, hitting 84 home runs and 385 RBIs while stealing 163 bases. After the 2011 season, he would be posted for MLB teams. Aoki signed a two-year contract with the Milwaukee Brewers with an option for a third year.
Aoki had a stellar rookie season, hitting .288, crushing ten home runs, 50 RBIs, swiping 30 bases, and playing in 151 games. Aoki finished fifth in the N.L. Rookie of the Year voting. Ultimately, Aoki wrapped up his Brewers career in 2013 when he was traded to the Kansas City Royals for the 2014 season for reliever Will Smith.
He continued hitting strongly with the Royals, posting a .288 average, but only hit one home run along with 43 RBIs, stealing 17 bases. He would help the Royals to reach the 2014 World Series, where they would lose to the San Francisco Giants in seven games. Aoki only hit .195 in the postseason.
From 2015-17, Aoki played in the Giants, Mariners, Astros, Blue Jays and Mets organizations. In six MLB seasons, Aoki had a career .285 average, hit 33 home runs, 219 RBIs, and 774 hits in 758 games played in the MLB.
The Mets would release Aoki at the end of the 2017 season. Aoki would return to Japan to play with the Yakult Swallows on a three-year deal. In 2018, Aoki recorded his 4.000th at-bat in NPB. At the time, Aoki’s career batting average was .328, which then qualified as NPB’s lifetime batting champion. He was also selected to the 2018 NPB All-Star Game.
As for the 2024 season, Aoki played 61 games with the Swallows, only hitting .186 in 113 at-bats, driving in nine RBIs. Overall, in the NPB, Aoki played in 1,713 games and held a career .313 average, 145 home runs, 667 RBIs, and 177 stolen bases.
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WBN NBP: https://worldbaseball.com/league/japan/
Photo Credit: Norichika Aoki #11 of the New York Mets stands in the dugout during the ninth of a game against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park on September 30, 2017 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images)
