Shohei Ohtani: LA Angels Designated Hitter dominating All-Star ballots

The current All-Star ballot standings were released on Monday, and LA Angels Designated Hitter Shohei Ohtani didn’t disappoint.

Ohtani currently has 33% of the AL DH vote, 15% higher than the next-closest DH, J.D. Martinez.

Ohtani should be getting this kind of love from the fans, and I applaud Angels fans for doing their part so far.

Shohei Ohtani is far and away the best Designated Hitter in baseball.

Shohei Ohtani is batting .271 this year (all stats in this article are as of what they were entering the Detroit Tigers series), with an on-base percentage of .350, and an absurd slugging percentage of .618.

That slugging percentage leads AL designated hitters, and the next best DH in that category who has played at least 59 games has a slugging percentage 66 points lower than Ohtani.

Ohtani leads DH’s with 19 home runs, and is third in RBI with 47. He’s only played 66 games so far.

He leads DH’s with a 2.3 fWAR (next best is 1.9), but that’s just his WAR as a DH. When adding that to his WAR as a pitcher, it’s simply unfair. It rises to 3.4.

Again, we’re only 68 games into the season. His fWAR is 1.5 wins higher than the next-best DH.

Speaking of who he’s been as a pitcher, Ohtani has been lights out.

He sports a 2.85 ERA in nine starts this season, striking out 12.93 batters per nine innings.

That ERA is seventh in the American League among starters with at least nine starts this season. That K/9 rate is third in the AL among AL starters with at least nine starts this year.

Ohtani crushes long balls, and doesn’t give them up. He leads AL DH’s with 19 homers, and has given up just 0.76 home runs per nine innings. That HR/9 mark is tied for ninth place among AL starters with at least nine starts.

He can do it all on the baseball field, and has even taken many innings in the outfield this season.

So, Ohtani is a dominant starting pitcher, and rakes while he does it. Well, he also rakes while he plays the field as well. Oh, and he’s also swiped ten bags this year which is seven more than the next fastest Angel, and also seven more than the next fastest DH in this league.

There’s quite literally nothing Ohtani can’t do. He’s been the MVP of the American League so far (and it hasn’t even been all that close). He deserves this, and he’s getting his All-Star recognition for it.

Angels fans are absolutely doing their part when it comes to voting Ohtani into the Midsummer Classic.