Many of the services and innovations that shape our world today were not created in perfect conditions.
Behind them were pioneers — people who took risks, failed publicly, and left lessons for those who followed.

Every new challenge carries the possibility of failure.
Yet pioneers move forward anyway — driven by conviction and by the belief that someone will walk the path after them.

When Shohei Ohtani committed to becoming a full-fledged two-way player in Japanese professional baseball, he faced intense criticism from former players and commentators. Many believed the attempt would ruin his talent.

But Ohtani viewed it differently.

Even if doing both pitching and hitting turned out to be a failure, he believed it would still benefit him.

Criticism only strengthened his resolve. It made him think, “I’ll prove it.”

At the same time, he held a broader perspective:

If one day a child wants to pursue both pitching and hitting, and if his own challenge could serve as a model that leads that child to success — that would be enough.

That is why it meant so much to him when Major League teams were willing to accept him as a two-way player.
He later reflected that he was happy — and grateful — that he had continued pursuing both.

As of now, no other player has replicated Ohtani’s level of two-way success.
But in both Japan and Major League Baseball, the concept of the two-way player is now viewed positively.

That shift exists because of his awareness as a pioneer — and because he backed it up with undeniable results.

Source

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

Shohei Ohtani: Baseball Chronicle I – Japan Edition 2013–2018, p.311