Today, the phrase “Shohei Ohtani equals two-way player” feels completely natural. But in the beginning, even Ohtani himself did not necessarily believe he could succeed as both a pitcher and a hitter at the professional level.

Many elite amateur players in Japan are known as “ace and cleanup hitter” in high school. Ohtani was one of them. When he initially considered skipping Japanese professional baseball and going straight to Major League Baseball after graduation, the path he envisioned was as a pitcher.

In fact, Keishi Kojima, the Los Angeles Dodgers scout who had followed Ohtani since high school, was captivated primarily by his potential on the mound.

What changed everything was the proposal from the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, who selected him first overall in the draft:
Why not try both — pitcher and hitter?

For Ohtani, it was a “revolutionary idea.”

That idea became the turning point that led him to join the Fighters — and to begin the unprecedented challenge of becoming a true two-way player.

By his second season, he recorded double-digit wins as a pitcher and double-digit home runs as a hitter.
In his fourth season (2016), he was selected to the Best Nine both as a pitcher and as a designated hitter, won the Pacific League MVP award, and led his team to a Japan Series championship.

Results silenced the skeptics.

Those achievements ultimately opened the door to Major League Baseball.

Yet Ohtani understands something essential: none of it happened alone.

The two-way challenge required belief from a manager willing to take a risk, teammates who supported him, a team that structured his development carefully, and an organization that protected his path.

That is why he says:

“Being a two-way player isn’t something that belongs to me alone.”

It is not just a personal identity.
It is a shared creation.

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.44