MGL asks

Girardi said that the possibility of using Ibanez as a pinch-hitter in the ninth was a logical one, since he is a low-ball hitter and would be working against Johnson, primarily a low-ball pitcher……Now, I have little doubt that teams are looking at this stuff themselves, but surely one of the many analysts/writers (for BP, THT, BtBS, etc.) should be looking at this too and reporting the results. It would be a snap to do this for many of them.

So, published analysts, hello? Where are you?

Well, using the Run Value Heat Map application, here is a comp of the per pitch Run Values for Ibanez compared to Rodriguez vs LHP (umpire’s perceptive) over the last 3 years.

Ibanez covers the entire plate better, but Arod owns the inside part of the plate (for RHH).

Here is the graph for just this year:

Close to the same with Raul looks to have more coverage.