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is a Japanese professional baseball right fielder who is currently a free agent. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Milwaukee Brewers, Kansas City Royals and San Francisco Giants and for the Tokyo Yakult Swallows of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). Aoki is one of only four players to amass 200 or more hits in a single season in Japanese professional baseball. He played in the 2006 and 2009 World Baseball Classics as well as the 2008 Beijing Olympics. == Early life and amateur career == 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. Aoki was surrounded by a remarkable concentration of talent at Waseda: his year included shortstop Takashi Toritani (currently with the Hanshin Tigers), third baseman Toshimitsu Higa (Hiroshima Toyo Carp) and center fielder Shintaro Yoshida (Orix Buffaloes), all three of whom would later go on to the pros.〔() "Japanese Baseball News: Giants Get What They Want in Draft; Arias Out, Kinkade In?" - Baseball Guru.〕 Left-handed pitcher Tsuyoshi Wada (Baltimore Orioles) was one year his senior, and second baseman Hiroyasu Tanaka and first baseman Shinichi Takeuchi, both of whom would later rejoin Aoki with the Swallows, were one and two years his junior, respectively. The six hitters, who often batted in the order of Tanaka, Aoki, Toritani, Higa, Takeuchi and Yoshida, formed one of the most potent lineups in college baseball history and led Waseda to four consecutive Tokyo Big6 titles for the first time in the history of the university. Aoki hit .463 in the spring of his junior year (2002)〔() "Japanese Baseball News: Yomiuri, Yakult Sorting Out Draft Choices; Koshien Action" - Baseball Guru.〕 and set a Tokyo Big6 record for runs scored in a single game with six in a game against the University of Tokyo that season, going 5-for-5 with five RBI and a walk in that same game. He hit .332 during his college career, albeit without a single home run, and was selected to the Tokyo Big6 Best Nine Award three times in his eight seasons (spring and fall) with Waseda as the starting right fielder. He was selected in the fourth round of the 2003 NPB amateur draft by the Yakult Swallows. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Nori Aoki」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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