Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Player Profile: Norichika Aoki

I have three cards of Norichika Aoki. This one is from 2012 Topps.

Playing career: Outfielder Norichika Aoki came to the US from Japan at age 30 in 2012. He played two seasons for the Brewers and was then traded to the Royals. Despite hitting just .071 against them in the 2014 World Series, the Giants liked what they saw and signed him as a free agent. Last year he hit .287 with 5 HR and 26 RBI in 93 games for San Francisco. Aoki has been remarkably consistent – in his four MLB seasons his batting averages have been .288, .286, .285 and .287, while his OBP has ranged between .349 and .356.

Where he is now: Signed with the Mariners for the 2016 season.

My memories: He was highly touted when he came from Japan as a high-BA, high-OBP player. He has been consistent as a regular, though no star.

Google Autocomplete results: He is third when you type Noric, between Noric, a Celtic language, and Norice, referring to Norway and Iceland. There do not appear to be any other prominent Norichika Aokis.

Coming up next: The next profile will be Jose Arredondo.

No comments:

Post a Comment