Josh Donaldson, a three-time All-Star third baseman and the winner of the 2015 American League Most Valuable Player Award, announced his retirement on Monday during an appearance on Sean Casey's "The Mayor's Office" podcast.
"It's sad because I'll not be able to go out there and play the game that I love anymore," Donaldson said, "but it's also [a] very happy time that I get to be around the family and kind of take that next chapter in life."
Donaldson, 38, appeared in parts of 13 big-league seasons and suited up for seven different clubs. He batted .261/.358/.489 (129 OPS+) with 279 home runs and 46.8 Wins Above Replacement, according to Baseball Reference's calculations. For context, the average third baseman in the Hall of Fame tallied 69.4 career Wins Above Replacement.
Donaldson did enjoy a brilliant peak. From 2013-16, he averaged more than seven WAR and 33 home runs per season while batting .284/.375/.518 (144 OPS+). As previously noted, he won the 2015 AL MVP Award with Toronto and made three All-Star Games. He was also a two-time Silver Slugger Award winner and received MVP consideration on five total occasions.
For as productive as Donaldson was at the peak of his powers, he was no stranger to moving around. He spent four seasons each with the Oakland Athletics and Toronto Blue Jays, as well as two seasons with the Minnesota Twins and New York Yankees, and a season or less with the Atlanta Braves, Cleveland Guardians, and Milwaukee Brewers.
There's no way to quantify such a thing, but anecdotally, Donaldson helped usher in a new era of hitting strategy. His embrace of a high leg kick and lifting the ball frequently made him stand out a decade ago. Now, those traits have become commonplace.
On a less flattering note, the waning days of Donaldson's career might be most remembered for the controversial spat he initiated during the 2022 season when he called Tim Anderson as "Jackie," a reference to Jackie Robinson, the trailblazer who integrated Major League Baseball during the 1947 season with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Donaldson was suspended for a game and fined for that incident.
