Minoru Aoki

Minoru Aoki (青木 実)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 9", Weight 154 lbs.

• High School Yokohama High School

• Born June 20, 1954 in Yokohama, Kanagawa Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Minoru Aoki played in the Nippon Pro Baseball for 10 years and once led the league in steals .

Aoki was drafted by the Yakult Swallows in the fifth round of the 1974 NPB draft after playing for the Nissan in the Industrial League. He spent the first two years of his career in the NPB Farm Leagues, only having 41 at-bats combined with the big club. He took the main pinch-runner and 4th outfielder spots in 1978, but he only hit .192/.222/.192 with 15 steals that season. His poor batting limited his performance, and he never had more than 70 appearances in the next two seasons with a .139/.205/.139 and .160/.192/.160 batting line respectively.

When John Scott and Tsutomu Wakamatsu were both injured in 1981, Aoki caught the chance and secured the leadoff batter spot. He hit .266/.301/.344 with 34 steals, and led the Central League in swipes, 1 ahead of Tadashi Matsumoto. However, he was used as the 4th outfielder again when Wakamatsu recovered, and he only hit .240/.287/.318 in 86 games in 1982. His batting line fell further to .161/.212/.161 in 1983, and he only played 34 more games over the next two seasons. Aoki announced his retirement after the 1985 season.

Overall, Aoki had hit .229/.274/.289 with 79 steals and 132 hits in 10 seasons in NPB.

Related Sites

• NPB site
• Wiki Japan