The term “two-way player” has become inseparable from Shohei Ohtani’s name. In 2021, “Real Two-Way Player / Sho-Time” even won Japan’s annual buzzword award, reflecting how deeply the concept had entered popular culture.

The origin of the idea traces back to Hideki Kuriyama, then manager of the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters. Observing Ohtani’s extraordinary ability as both a pitcher and a hitter, Kuriyama remarked, “It would be interesting to let him try a two-sword style.” The phrase was inspired by the legendary samurai Miyamoto Musashi, who famously fought using two swords.

Ohtani was drawn to the idea of pursuing both pitching and hitting, and it played a major role in his decision to sign with Nippon-Ham. Yet interestingly, Ohtani himself rarely used the term “two-way.”

When asked what the label meant to him, he explained that from his perspective, he was simply continuing to play baseball the way he always had.

“I’ve just been playing baseball the way I normally do,” he said. “I don’t feel like I’m doing anything special.”

For Ohtani, doing both was not revolutionary — it was natural. While the baseball world saw something unprecedented, he saw only the continuation of what he loved: pitching and hitting.

The label may have been historic.
To him, it was simply baseball.

Source

This quote comes from a Japanese book published in Japan and is not currently available in English.

Opening a Path, Crossing the Ocean: The True Story of Shohei Ohtani, p.258