News

Norichika Aoki ‘04 from the Houston Astros of Major League Baseball (MLB) became the seventh Japanese player to achieve a total number of 2000 baseball hits in his combined playing time in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) and Major League Baseball (MLB). He was a professional player in the NPB for eight years and this is his sixth year playing in the MLB.

Photo taken in an interview at the game Aoki recorded his 2000 hits achievement. (Kyodo)

About Aoki Nori

Aoki entered the School of Human Science at Waseda University in 2000. When he played as a member of the University’s baseball club during his third and fourth year, Waseda University won all four games in the Tokyo Big6 Baseball League – 1) Waseda University, 2) Tokyo University, 3) Sophia University, 4) Rikkyo University, 5) Meiji University and 6) Keio University.

After graduating from Waseda University in 2014, Aoki joined the Yakult Swallows. In 2015, he was the rookie king of the year. Between 2005 and 2010, he achieved more than 200 baseball hits in two of the years. Additionally, he was awarded the Battling Champion Award for three times, Best Nine Award for seven times and Mitsui Golden Glove Award for six times. When he represented Japan in the Japan National Baseball Team at the World Baseball Classic (WBC) tournament, Japan won twice.

(Kyodo)