New Houston Astros outfield acquisition, Norichika Aoki, 34, confirmed that he will be participating in this upcoming World Baseball Classic for Samurai Japan that will be held next March, an announcement was made just today according to the report. The left-handed slap hitter, Norihicka Aoki played in the past two editions of the World Baseball Classic back in year 2006, and 2009 (with the exception of the 2013 WBC), this will now be his third time representing the Samurai’s in Baseball’s global event.

Norichika Aoki was claimed off-waivers by the Houston Astros early in the off-season, both sides then agreed on a 5.5 million USD one-year contract deal to avoid arbitration in late November. With Aoki now with the team’s roster, Samurai Japan are still waiting for a number of Japanese Major leaguers to express their willingness to participate (Masahiro Tanaka and Munenori Kawasaki have already expressed interest, and are most likely to appear in the tournament).