The Milwaukee Brewers have won exclusive negotiating rights with Japanese OF Norichika Aoki according to the Brewers’ official website. The Brewers paid a small $2.5 million in order to win the negotiating rights to Aoki.

The Brewers will hold a workout for Aoki in Arizona in order to see if he can cut the mustard before signing him to a contract. Aoki is an outfielder, who has a .329 lifetime average the in Nippon Professional Baseball League.

According to Patrick Newman of NPB Tracker, Aoki is the best pure hitter Japan has produced since Ichiro Suzuki and is a good defensive outfielder. The Brewers could look at him as a fourth outfielder or a replacement for Ryan Braun in left if Braun is suspended by Major League Baseball.

From Newman’s description, Aoki sounds like the outfield version of Akinori Iwamura to me. That’s not a superstar, but a pretty serviceable player at the Major League level.

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By The Baseball Index