No, he did not.
Every overall metric says Ohtani was a more valuable player; all measured of WAr put him ahead by a significant amount. But maybe you don’t like WAR, so let’s use some more conventional facts.
Andujar had 606 plate appearances. Ohtani had 367 plate appearances - plus he faced 211 batters as a pitcher, a total of 578 plate appearances. So in fact, despite what people have said, there really wasn’t a significant difference between them in playing time. It’s basically five percent.
In those plate appearances, Ohtani was absolutely a better player. He had a higher on base percentage, and a higher slugging percentage, despite playing in a worse hitter’s park. At bat for at bat he was unquestionably a better hitter; there is no rational argument to the contrary even if you hate “analytics.” (There is no significant difference in baserunning.)
And as a pitcher, he was as good as he was a hitter. At bat for at bat his pitching took away as many runs from the opposition as his hitting contributed to his team.
So they played about the same in terms of actual plate appearances, and Ohtani was significantly better, much more so than the five percent difference in plate appearances. So… I mean, how is this decision “bullshit”? Really, that’s bullshit?
Of course, Andujar has a significant advantage in playing time I have not mentioned; he was in the field for the whole season, which Ohtani was not, as Ohtani was either a DH or a pitcher and pitcher fielding doesn’t amount to anything. The thing is, Andujar is a very bad fielder. He was probably the worst third baseman in the major leagues, actually. (Indeed, according to WAR, Andujar wasn’t even the best rookie on his own team; Gleyber Torres was, because Torres is a good fielder.) It would be really, really generous to say he contributed nothing in that regard; in truth, he detracted. Again, you don’t have to reply on WAR; by traditional stats he was bad, and just watching him everyone agrees he was bad. It’s not a controversial position to say he’s a pretty bad glove. It’s something of an accomplishment for a third baseman to play all year and only turn six double plays.
I mean, this was not bullshit. It was an objectively good choice. The only rookie in the AL who might have been better was Joey Wendle and I would have voted for Ohtani, because, frankly, I’d discount the numbers of a 28-year-old journeyman who just peaked in his rookie season a little.