Cristopher Sanchez deserves to start MLB All-Star Game in Philly more than Shohei Ohtani

Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia will host the MLB All-Star Game on July 14. Fan voting will determine which position players start, but who starts on the mound will ultimately come down to the managers. On the National League side, Los Angeles Dodgers skipper Dave Roberts will make the final call.

In recent comments to the media, Roberts said he has not yet determined whether MVP frontrunner Shohei Ohtani will pitch in the All-Star Game in addition to hitting as the DH. If Ohtani does pitch, however, he will start, as it's "impractical" for him to warm up mid-game as a hitter.

First off: it's the All-Star Game. The NL can just warm up Ohtani after his turn in the lineup is over and pitch him for an inning until he hits the bench. More importantly, however, Ohtani is clearly not the most deserving of a starting spot. That would be hometown ace Cristopher Sánchez of the Philadelphia Phillies.

Cristopher Sánchez should start the All-Star Game in Philadelphia

Ohtani is the best player in the world and a totally deserving All-Star starter. He would be an All-Star on the strength of his offensive profile alone. That he would make the All-Star Game as strictly a pitcher, too, is a testament to his incredible, singular two-way talent.

But if we are judging pitchers on their merits as pitchers — nothing more, nothing less — Sánchez has outperformed Ohtani this season. There's a pound-for-pound, "per inning" argument in Ohtani's favor, but he has 79.0 innings under his belt. The Dodgers are going out of their way to preserve Ohtani and limit his workload on the mound.

Sánchez has 110.0 innings pitched, second only to Marlins sinkerballer Sandy Alcántara in the National League.

Ohtani has a better ERA (1.58) compared to Sánchez (2.13), but the catch-all metrics heavily favor the latter. Sánchez has a 3.9 fWAR on the mound, second in the NL. Ohtani has not pitched enough innings to qualify on the FanGraphs leaderboard, but his 2.8 pitching fWAR is tied for a (distant) third at 2.8 — with Paul Skenes, Chris Sale, Chase Burns and Braxton Ashcraft.

Again, Ohtani is a dominant pitcher and if he had another 20-30 innings under his belt, another four or five starts, it would be much more of an argument. Sánchez shouldn't start just because he's the hometown guy (although that's also not a bad idea, since the All-Star Game is all about entertainment and fan service at the end of the day). He should start because he has a stronger résumé.

Sánchez is a workhorse, consistently stretching six or seven innings deep, sometimes more. That is consistently one of the most underrated qualities in a starting pitcher. The ability to weather a storm, eat innings, and give the majority of your bullpen a night off.

Despite throwing only three pitches (sinker, changeup, slider), Sánchez is also one of the most well-rounded pitchers in baseball. He can win on pitch location and finesse, with an elevated groundball rate. He has also has a higher strikeout rate than Ohtani, able to get batters fishing outside the zone with that devastating changeup.

His combination of durability and impenetrability — not to mention the fact that he has a 2.13 ERA despite playing in front of baseball's worst defense — makes Sánchez the clear best option to start in the playoffs. He can beat you so many ways, and he does it more consistently than anyone.

Shohei Ohtani isn't even Cristopher Sánchez's biggest competition this year

If there is a debate to be had about the NL starter, it's between Sánchez and Jacob Misiorowski. In a twist of fate, it was Misiorowski whose selection to the All-Star Game as an injury placement last season led to Sánchez's snub. MLB wanted the attention and spectacle of the Miz, despite him being only a handful of starts in his rookie season. As a result, Sánchez was not an All-Star in a year in which he finished runner-up in NL Cy Young voting.

Misiorowski's case is much stronger this time around. He leads NL pitchers in fWAR (4.3) and strikeouts (146). He has pitched 11 fewer innings than Sánchez, but in just about every major statistical category, from ERA (1.45) to FIP (1.86), Misiorowski holds the edge.

It would — admittedly — take a bit of home cooking for Sánchez to start over Miz at this stage, but it's not like the two are on completely separate levels. Sánchez is still the more durable and steadfast pitcher. Misiorowski is basically unhittable and he sets a new velocity record seemingly every week, but he's not unassailable. He has done a much better job of commanding his pitches this season, but he's not on Sánchez's level when it comes to pinpointing each and every throw.

The debate here is between Miz and Sánchez, and depending on your allegiances and your willingness to indulge in sentimentality, you can't really go wrong there. If Ohtani starts over both of them, however, it just won't feel right.

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