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Player A is a LHB. Player B is a RHB. They have vastly different approaches at the plate.

“A” struck out a good deal of the time, but mitigated that somewhat by walking a fair amount (27.1 K%, 13.8 BB%, .60 BB/K). “B” is ultra selective and managed a ridiculous number of free passes, but still racked up a few whiffs, though not nearly at the rate that "A" did (21.3 K%, 19.9 BB%, 1.20 BB/K).

“B” is a dead pull hitter and uses his great eye to locate balls on the inner half of the plate. He OPS'd a whopping 1.358 to left field, but only a paltry .425 combined to center and right. “A” has a much more balanced approach, choosing to utilize the whole field to his advantage. His OPS on balls in play to left field, center and right went 1.052, .965 and 1.073 (respectively) last year.

Despite being so different in philosophy, they have almost identical ’09 OPS and wOBA figures (A: .866, .373 – B: .868, .378).

So, who would you rather have? It’s a tough choice for sure.

Let’s make that decision easier. Choose Nick Swisher.

That’s right ladies and gentlemen, those are Swishalicous’ stats from last year (and yes, they’re in line with his career rates, though his success going oppo as a lefty last year was way up). It’s interesting that one guy could have these two distinct ways of going about the art of hitting. We hear about players having more power from one side or another, but we don’t usually hear they act like a completely different person. I’m not saying these are premeditated plans by Nick, but this is the way it’s played out in his career so far.

And yes, that was misleading since I made it seem like the “players” stats were versus both left-handed and right-handed pitching… but come on, there would have been no mystery if I indicated it was RHB vs. LHP and LHB vs. RHP. It’s all about the reveal.