Is Aoki the Next Ichiro?

The Milwaukee Brewers had their bid accepted by the Yakult Swallows and they began negotiating with outfielder Norichika Aoki. There has been some speculation that Aoki might be the player to best fill the big shoes of Ichiro Suzuki. Both players are two of only four players that have reached the 200 hit mark in a season in Japan.


There are a more than a few differences between the two and their careers in Japan. Aoki is making the jump to the MLB three years behind where Suzuki was in his career. Aoki will be 30 when he takes the field and Suzuki was 27 in his first season with the Mariners. Suzuki played for the Orix BlueWave in the Pacific League while Aoki played in the Central League where four fields are greatly under sized. While in Japan Suzuki played third base and made the transition to the outfield after joining the Mariners. Aoki has played outfield his whole career in Japan. In his 210 hit season in 1994 Suzuki amassed that total in 130 games. Aoki had his 209 hit season in 2010 over 144 games. Aoki's best average was .358 also in 2010. Sukuki matched or bettered that mark three times hitting .385 in 1994, .358 in 1998 and .387 in 2000. Even playing in more small fields Aoki managed to reach the 20 home run mark once in 2007 when he hit 20. Suzuki surpassed the mark twice when he hit 25 in 1995 and 21 in 1999. Aoki passed the 30 steal mark twice with 41 in 2006 and 31 in 2008. Suzuki passed the mark three times with 49 in 1995, 35 in 1996 and 39 in 1997. 


While Aoki is still very talented his career in Japan did not measure up to the great Ichiro. Ichiro took his game to another level when he joined the Mariners and Aoki would need a major transformation to reach that level.