Shohei Ohtani not All-Star worthy?

The time for voting for the All-Star game is here and there are multiple LA Angels that are worthy of an All-Star nod. However, the biggest omit on my ballot is the modern day Babe Ruth; yes Shohei Ohtani didn't get the vote for me this year.

One of the reasons for Ohtani not making my All-Star ballot is because of the ridiculous season that Houston Astros player Yordan Alvarez is having. Alvarez has a .312 batting average, 19 home runs, 49 RBI and a 1.037 OPS which is definitely All-Star worthy.

While Ohtani just missed my All-Star ballot, there is a caveat within my reasoning because fans can't vote for pitchers. Looking into it further, Ohtani is improving on the pitching mound and that might be good enough for him to get an All-Star nod in the rotation.

Shohei Ohtani deserves All-Star nod as pitcher.

Now, before people go into a frenzy and call for my head, there is no doubt that Shohei Ohtani is still an unbelievable player and something we haven't seen before. But his offensive struggles at the beginning of the season should be taken into account.

In the months of March and April, Ohtani slashed .247/.295/.427 with an OPS of .722 including a wRC+ of 103 which is barely above average. These numbers are drastically lower than what he did last year. Of course he did win MVP last year, but no one should deny that Ohtani struggled at the plate during the first few months.

The good thing about Ohtani is that his pitching has improved from a season ago. He has a respectable 3.28 ERA and his K% and BB% are significantly better right now compared to his numbers all of last season. It's almost as if he's sacrificed his hitting a bit in exchange for becoming a better pitcher.

3 other LA Angels make the list.

Besides Shohei Ohtani not making my ballot, I did have three other LA Angels players that were more than deserving of getting some votes. Of course Mike Trout, Max Stassi, and Taylor Ward are the three that have really impressed during the first half of the season.

There's only so much to say about Mike Trout as he continues to dominate the sport and prove he's still the number one player in baseball. However, Stassi and Ward have both put up impressive numbers so far this season and deserve a closer look into the type of seasons they're having.

Ward is playing out of his mind right now and is really showing that he could be Josh Donaldson 2.0 in terms of his bat. He's slashing .312/.409/.571 with a wRC+ of 181 which is well above the league average. As for Stassi, according to a tweet from Jared Tims, in his last 22 games he's slashing .261/.363/.377 and posting a wRC+ of 119 which is 32 points higher than the average MLB catcher. His framing skills have also saved the team a few hits which in exchange means less runs. While it's a longshot for Stassi to make it, he deserves a look.