Any day that brings an opportunity to mention of Rob Deer is a good day. Deer, of course, was the contact-phobic slugger who led the American League in strikeouts four times despite never playing more than 135 games in a season. Which brings us to Mark Reynolds and his single-season record 206 strikeouts.

The thing is Reynolds, who also has 43 home runs, 24 stolen bases and 74 walks, does a lot when he doesn't strike out. And that makes him a lightning rod for the ongoing debate between the segment of SportsNation that gravitates to Reynolds' .919 OPS or 45.8 VORP and the segment that focuses on those strikeouts. Consider commenter dodgermaniac44.

• "Absolutely amazing that a major league hitter can whiff 205 times in one season. And he still has 11 games left. If he ends up with 216, that is the equivalent to EIGHT entire games of nothing but striking out. ... He should be embarrassed. Of course he says he doesn't care about the K's. What else is he going to say? 40+ homers is indeed impressive. However, I believe lots of guys could hit 40 homers if they did nothing but swing from the heels on every pitch. Imagine how many homer Pujols could hit if he didn't care about average or K's. He could probably hit 90. 200+ K's is ridiculous. That doesn't help his team win."

So is Reynolds, as the former numbers suggest, one of the 30 best hitters in the game? Or is he essentially baseball's Ricky Davis, piling up stats at the expense of his team?

“

The high K total means he doesn't pop-out, fly-out, ground-out as much as most players. But when he connects, he does more damage than anyone outside of Pujols. Best power hitting 3B in baseball.

” -- DIVISIONINCISION

“

What's somewhat impressive is that hes hitting .430 on balls he actually hits into play.

” -- brewer228