Nori Aoki, a former big league outfielder and current member of Nippon Professional Baseball’s Yakult Swallows, will retire after the 2024 season, according to a statement made by the Swallows yesterday (hat tip to The Yomiuri Shimbun). Aoki, 42, spent six seasons in the majors and had a long career in Japan.
Aoki’s career with the Swallows began in 2004, when he made his debut at the age of 22. He appeared in only ten games with Yakult that season, going 3-for-15 with a walk, a stolen base, and six strikeouts. That small sample size, however, did not predict what Aoki would do in his first full season with the club, as he slashed an excellent.344/.387/.417 in 144 games in 2005, becoming only the second player in NPB history (after Ichiro Suzuki) to collect 200 hits in a single season.
Throughout his mid-20s, he ascended to even higher heights, slashing 15-to-20 home runs while maintaining excellent contact and baserunning ability. As his plate discipline improved, he began to walk more than strike out, resulting in a dominant stretch of seasons from 2007 to 2010, during which he walked at a 10.6% clip against a minuscule 9.8% strikeout rate, in addition to his aforementioned solid power and impressive base-stealing abilities, and even crossed the 200-hit barrier for the second time in 2010, becoming the only NPB player in history to do so twice.
Given his outstanding performance with the Swallows, it was no surprise that he was swiftly signed by the Brewers on a two-year contract after being posted for major level clubs prior to the 2012 season. In Milwaukee, Aoki was a slightly above-average hitter, with a.287/.355/.399 slash line. While he only hit 18 home runs in two seasons with the Brewers, he stole 50 bases and had 57 doubles and 7 triples. That was a strong enough performance for Milwaukee brass to pick up Aoki’s club option for the 2014 season, but he did not stay with the Brewers during the winter and was traded to the Royals in exchange for lefty Will Smith.
After leaving the Brewers, Aoki would not return to an MLB club for more than a season for the remainder of his career in the United States. After serving as Kansas City’s primary right fielder during the club’s AL pennant-winning 2014 season, Aoki signed with the Giants in free agency, but was restricted to just 93 games due to a broken leg and a concussion sustained in two separate hit-by-pitch incidents. Aoki then signed a one-year contract with the Mariners in 2016, but he began to show signs of decline, stealing only seven bases in sixteen attempts and having the worst strikeout and walk numbers of his MLB career, though he did have his best power numbers since his rookie season with the Brewers in 2012.
Aoki’s final season in the major leagues took place in 2017, and he changed outfits multiple times. The Astros claimed the veteran outfielder off waivers from the Mariners during the 2016-17 winter. Aoki struggled through 70 games in Houston, but was dealt to the Blue Jays at the deadline that year alongside Teoscar Hernandez in a deal that brought Francisco Liriano to Houston. Aoki did, however, catch fire down the line, and while his playing time was split between the Blue Jays and the Mets in the final two months of the season, he slashed. Toronto scored 281/.294/.594 in August then dropping to.284/.371/.373 in Queens the following September.
After his MLB career ended, Aoki returned home to the Swallows, where he has played for the past seven seasons. The 42-year-old veteran is the league’s oldest active player, having made almost 7,000 plate appearances and slashed.313/.392/.445 in 1,713 NPB games. Between NPB and MLB action, Aoki has 2,765 hits, 470 doubles, 51 triples, 179 home runs, and 279 stolen bases. We at MLBTR congratulate Aoki on a successful career and wish him the best in his post-playing endeavors.
