Photos From Aoki Press Conference

One of the newest Brewers, Japanese outfielder Norichika Aoki, reported to camp at Maryvale Baseball Park today and we held a press conference to welcome him.  General Manager Doug Melvin, manager Ron Roenicke and interpreter Kosuke Inaji (who was with the Brewers last year serving as Takashi Saito’s interpreter) all took part in the press conference.  It was attended by a number of Milwaukee media who are down here as well as international media.

The Brewers signed Aoki to a two-year contract on January 17.  The Brewers were awarded the negotiating rights to Aoki on December 19 after the Tokyo Yakult Swallows of the Japanese Central League accepted the highest bid.

Aoki, who turned 30 on January 5, has played his entire eight-year professional career with Yakult, batting .329 with 84 HR, 385 RBI and 164 stolen bases in 985 games.  He has batted over .300 in six of his seven full seasons and was Central League batting champion in 2005 (.344), 2007 (.346) and 2010 (.358).  He was 2005 Central League Rookie of the Year and is a six-time Golden Glove Award winner.

Aoki has participated in both World Baseball Classic events (2006 and 2009), batting .310 with 8 RBI in 15 games, and competed in the 2008 Summer Olympics, batting .294 with 1 HR and 7 RBI in 9 games for Japan.  Aoki worked out for the Brewers on January 8 here at Maryvale Baseball Park.  He bats left and throws right and will wear #7 as a Brewer.

Aoki (left in jeans) arrives to Brewers camp today.

Doug Melvin along with Aoki, interpreter Kosuke Inaji and Ron Roenicke begin the press conference.

The group addressed questions from the media for around 30 minutes.

We can expect a large group of international media to follow Aoki all season long.

Aoki is planning on taking the field later this morning for an informal workout.

Aoki works with Inaji, Brewers Media Relations Director Mike Vassallo and Matt Vasgersian of MLB Network on a promotional read for the network.

Aoki was scheduled to participate in an informal workout today at 11:30 a.m. Phoenix time.  I will hopefully have pictures of that later in the day.

– JOHN

john.steinmiller@brewers.com