Should Ohtani be on the All Star team?

Sure, right? Look how well he's doing. Let's see how Ohtani compares to Designated Hitters (DH) and starting pitchers and whether he has even played enough to qualify to be among the leaders.

At least 50% games as DH and enough Plate Appearances (PA) to qualify as a leader in averages:

Rk	Player	OPS+	Year	Age	Tm	Lg	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	SH	SF	GDP	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	Pos
1	J.D. Martinez	170	2018	30	BOS	AL	54	235	211	37	67	14	1	19	48	21	2	56	1	0	2	5	0	0	.318	.379	.664	1.042	*D7/9
2	C.J. Cron	126	2018	28	TBR	AL	54	245	221	32	60	10	0	12	32	14	0	59	8	0	2	4	1	1	.271	.335	.480	.814	*D3/H
3	Nelson Cruz	120	2018	37	SEA	AL	43	187	167	15	42	8	0	10	28	10	1	35	9	0	1	5	1	0	.251	.326	.479	.805	*D
4	Khris Davis	119	2018	30	OAK	AL	48	213	190	25	45	10	0	13	40	16	0	55	5	0	2	7	0	0	.237	.310	.495	.805	*D/7
5	Shin-Soo Choo	113	2018	35	TEX	AL	56	257	220	34	58	11	0	9	24	33	1	59	3	0	1	4	2	0	.264	.366	.436	.802	*D9
6	Edwin Encarnacion	108	2018	35	CLE	AL	50	217	196	28	47	7	0	14	36	17	1	59	3	0	0	5	0	0	.240	.310	.490	.800	*D/3
7	Victor Martinez	82	2018	39	DET	AL	49	191	171	13	43	7	0	4	22	16	3	19	1	0	3	8	0	0	.251	.314	.363	.677	*D/H

Shohei Ohtani has only 121 PA and does not come close to qualifying. The fewest among the DH qualifiers is 187. The top ten in PA by any batters so far in 2018 all have at least 255.

Ohtani has OPS+ 156. The DH leader in OPS+ J.D. Martinez leads the American League in Home Runs and RBI. This season Martinez has started 29 games as DH and 26 in the outfield. So why not put Martinez in the outfield and let Ohtani DH? The starting outfielders in the American League are likely to be Mike Trout, Aaron Judge and Mookie Betts (currently on 10 day DL). No, Martinez clearly deserves to to be a starting All Star at DH.

91 pitchers have enough innings to qualify for leadership in ERA. The fewest among them is 57 innings. Ohtani has pitched only 45 innings and does not qualify. The most innings is 81.

Ohtani's ERA+ is 130. 23 qualifying pitchers are higher. Here are the tops:

Rk	Player	ERA+	Year	Age	Tm	Lg	G	GS	CG	SHO	GF	W	L	W-L%	SV	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA	FIP	K%	BB%	BAbip	HR	BF	AB	2B	3B	IBB	HBP	SH	SF	GDP	SB	CS	PO	BK	WP	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+	Pit	Str
1	Justin Verlander	346	2018	35	HOU	AL	12	12	1	1	0	7	2	.778	0	81.1	43	12	10	15	98	1.11	2.22	32.3%	5.0%	.211	5	303	281	10	2	0	4	1	2	1	1	1	2	0	1	.153	.205	.256	.462	30	1221	826
2	Jacob deGrom	249	2018	30	NYM	NL	11	11	0	0	0	4	0	1.000	0	65.1	47	12	11	19	85	1.52	2.13	32.8%	7.3%	.297	3	259	235	5	0	1	3	1	1	4	4	2	0	0	0	.200	.267	.260	.527	52	1013	685
3	Corey Kluber	223	2018	32	CLE	AL	12	12	1	0	0	8	2	.800	0	84.2	61	21	19	10	88	2.02	3.13	27.6%	3.1%	.239	11	319	308	8	0	0	1	0	0	8	0	2	0	0	2	.198	.226	.331	.557	46	1202	813
4	Max Scherzer	209	2018	33	WSN	NL	12	12	1	1	0	9	1	.900	0	79.2	49	20	17	19	120	1.92	1.96	38.7%	6.1%	.267	6	310	287	17	3	1	4	0	0	4	3	0	0	0	2	.171	.232	.314	.546	51	1282	883
5	Gio Gonzalez	191	2018	32	WSN	NL	11	11	0	0	0	6	2	.750	0	64.1	55	17	15	28	63	2.10	3.08	23.2%	10.3%	.292	3	272	241	17	0	1	0	0	3	6	0	2	0	0	2	.228	.305	.336	.641	79	1129	687
6	Luis Severino	188	2018	24	NYY	AL	12	12	1	1	0	8	1	.889	0	78.0	55	20	20	21	92	2.31	2.28	30.3%	6.9%	.276	4	304	280	11	2	0	1	1	1	6	2	1	0	0	2	.196	.254	.293	.547	48	1175	793
7	Jake Arrieta	182	2018	32	PHI	NL	10	10	0	0	0	5	2	.714	0	58.1	48	20	14	19	40	2.16	3.18	17.2%	8.2%	.271	2	233	209	11	0	0	0	1	3	11	2	3	1	0	2	.230	.290	.311	.601	70	897	566
8	Aaron Nola	180	2018	25	PHI	NL	12	12	0	0	0	7	2	.778	0	78.1	55	19	19	18	74	2.18	2.63	24.9%	6.1%	.258	4	297	274	7	0	0	1	2	2	7	8	3	2	0	1	.201	.251	.270	.521	48	1169	780
9	Mike Foltynewicz	176	2018	26	ATL	NL	12	12	1	1	0	5	3	.625	0	69.0	50	21	17	30	80	2.22	3.10	28.2%	10.6%	.271	5	284	250	10	3	0	1	1	1	4	2	1	2	0	5	.200	.287	.324	.611	73	1203	738
10	Gerrit Cole	174	2018	27	HOU	AL	12	12	1	1	0	6	1	.857	0	81.2	48	21	20	20	116	2.20	2.56	38.2%	6.6%	.252	9	304	280	12	0	0	3	1	0	6	5	3	0	0	3	.171	.234	.311	.545	53	1237	834
11	Trevor Bauer	172	2018	27	CLE	AL	11	11	0	0	0	4	3	.571	0	72.1	57	24	21	25	86	2.61	2.67	28.6%	8.3%	.293	4	301	270	16	0	2	4	1	1	4	3	1	0	0	6	.211	.287	.315	.601	60	1204	763

So Ohtani does not come close to deserving to be an All Star as a pitcher.

But the selection by the fans is largely a popularity contest. The Major League encourages fans to vote early and often. It's hardly a serious merit based process. The team manager selects non starters, so should that manager select Ohtani?

If Ohtani is selected, what player would he replace as backup DH? The DH group includes C.J. Cron, Nelson Cruz and Khris Davis, all with comparable OPS+ to Ohtani in way more PA.

So the people who blithely insist that Ohtani must be on the All Star team should step back and think it over.