In the first week of March, Josh Donaldson, who won the 2015 AL MVP award, announced his retirement. Donaldson made it into the big leagues in 2010, however, he didn’t play any games in the majors in 2011. In 2012, Donaldson played 75 games for the Oakland Athletics. Since 2013, he had been an infielder that drew a lot of attention. The last game he played was on October 1, 2023. In total, he spent 13 seasons in the majors, slashing .261/.358/.489 with 279 home runs and 816 RBI.
Well, in 2010, Donaldson batted only .156/.206/.281 with 1 home run and 4 RBI and didn’t play any games in the majors in 2011. Nonetheless, when we look at Donaldson’s stats from 2012 to 2023, it will be very interesting to evaluate how good he was.
From 2012 to 2023, 9 players each crushed at least 300 home runs. Mike Trout blasted 363 home runs over the last 12 seasons. Nelson Cruz blasted 350+ home runs from 2012 to 2023. Meanwhile, Giancarlo Stanton smashed 346 home runs during this period. And the 2022 NL MVP Paul Goldschmidt had 332 HRs. Donaldson didn’t have 300 home runs in this period, nonetheless, he belted 278 home runs, which ranked 12th.
In addition, let’s look at runs batted in. 4 players each had at least 1000 RBI from 2012 to 2023. Paul Goldschmidt collected 1096 RBI. Moreover, Freddie Freeman won the 2020 NL MVP award and he had 1066 RBI over the last 12 seasons. Furthermore, Nolan Arenado made his MLB debut in 2013 and in the last 11 seasons, he has 1061 RBI. And from 2012 to 2023, Nelson Cruz had 1002 RBI. At the same time, Josh Donaldson collected 812 RBI, ranking 18th in the majors.
Finally, looking at Fangraphs’ wins above replacement from 2012 to 2023, Mike Trout’s WAR was over 80, which is much higher than any other player. Furthermore, Freddie Freeman had a WAR of 56.7 in the last 12 seasons. Moreover, Mookie Betts made it into the big leagues in 2014, over the last 10 seasons, his WAR was over 55. And Paul Goldschmidt’s WAR was over 50 from 2012 to 2023. During this period, Josh Donaldson’s WAR was 47.0, which ranked 10th among MLB batters.
Well, Josh Donaldson’s first season in the majors wasn’t a great one and he didn’t play in the majors in 2011. He made some adjustments and he became an everyday player. Then, he became an All-Star. And in 2015, Donaldson slashed .297/.371/.568 with 41 home runs and 123 RBI over 158 games and won the AL MVP. Winning an MVP award is a great honor for MLB players. Hence, Donaldson’s career is surely an unforgettable one. Nonetheless, with a 47.0 career WAR, 279 home runs and 816 RBI, those numbers might not be convincing to be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Nevertheless, we can’t forget his career with the Blue Jays. Donaldson was traded from the Oakland A’s to the Blue Jays in November 2014. In August 2018, he was traded from the Blue Jays to the Indians. During Donaldson’s 4 seasons in the Blue Jays uniform, he batted .281/.383/.548 with 116 home runs and 316 RBI. In particular, he crushed at least 30 home runs each season from 2015 to 2017.
No comments:
Post a Comment