We all knew it was coming. Jayson Werth and his career .280/.386/.528 line against LHP left a gaping hole in the 5 spot of the lineup, and now, everyone in the casual fandome is screaming for a RH bat at the deadline.

So all the trade talk about a RH bat got me thinking about Shane Victorino. We all know how good he's been this year, but I wanted to find out how good. Specifically, How does he compare, against LH pitching to the ELITE RH Power bats? Think about it, would you pull trigger on Matt Kemp, or Jose Bautista? Miguel Cabrera?  Ryan Braun? How bout Albert Pujols?

Before you answer, check out the numbers after the Jump

I could get into a long philosophical post here, but I won't.  I'm gonna let the numbers speak for themselves. Everyone is clamoring for a RH bat to hit in the 5 hole. Here are the 2011 numbers for the ELITE, against LHP.

Lets start with the best RH hitter in the game. Albert Pujols.  Granted, he's been hurt and is having an "off year" by his standards, bbut he's still putting up the following line against Lefties:

.289/.349/.566 .915 OPS!! 6 HR, 17 RBI, 8BB to 7K's in 86 PA.  Even in an off season, Albert is still the man.

But how bout the people who are having TREMENDOUS YEARS? The MVP Candidates?

Here ya go.

Ryan Braun   91 PA   .324/.440/.500  .940 OPS! 2 HR and 10 RBI 16 BB to 16K! WOW!

Matt Kemp    106 PA  .321/.462!!/.593 .1.055 OPS!!  5 HR and 17 RBI 23BB to 19K!! COME ON!!

Miguel Cabrera  115 PA  .281/.426/506   .932 OPS 5 HR 14 RBI and an astounding 24BB to 15K!! SIGN ME UP!!

and the holy grail.... Jose Bautista   89 PA   .366/.494/.746 1.240 OPS!! 7 HR 15 RBI!! 18 BB 14K  MY GOD!!

Then theres our 5 hitter, Shane Victorino.  hopefully somewhere below Cabrera... right?

Try .375/.487/.719  for a 1.206 OPS with 5HR and 16 RBI 11 BB and only 6K's in just 79 PA.

Simply put, Shane Victorino is as good, if not better, from the right side than the best RH hitter in the game right now.

Don't know what else to say.

Oh wait, I do.

Jayson Werth, 2011 against LHP  .165/.320/.316 with 2 HR 9 RBI 18BB and 28K in 100 PA.