Thats a broad way of looking at it, Cola is much better at squaring up the ball whereas Smoak is all heavy swing. When he does hit it, it gets destroyed as evident by more than half his hits going for extra bases. Cola may strike out at the same rate, but its not because he cant hit a breaking ball. Cola can also spray the ball all over the field, whereas Smoak is pull heavy and defenses load up on him. Its not all BABIP "luck" as a lot of the stat head only guys like to think.
In the playoffs any decent manager will pick up on Smoaks inability to hit the breaking ball, and he will rarely see a fastball. Him hitting 5th in the postseason is a mistake IMO.(if Tulo is still on the mend)
Cola's defense at first has been more than adequate this year and the difference between the two isnt as big as some would like to think. (-5DRS : 3DRS) (-1.0 UZR : 1.2 UZR)
All year the same tune has sung about Cola not being able to sustain his bat, yet he somehow has. Going forward the same thinking of him not sustaining it is probably true, but why not see if he can continue to buck the trend.
At the beginning of the year I was all for Smoak getting more playing time, but right now I'd much rather see Cola in there with Tulo still out. Once Tulo is back I'd probably roll with Smoak