JOSH DONALDSON'S FAITH JOURNEY

High School

Born in Pensacola, Florida, Donaldson attended Pace High School in Pace, Florida for his sophomore year and played varsity baseball, before his mother, Lisa, moved him to Faith Academy in Mobile, Alabama to reunite him with his friend, P. J. Walters, at the Academy. Donaldson later attended Auburn University, where he played college baseball as a catcher and third baseman for the Auburn Tigers baseball team in the Southeastern Conference. During his freshman season in 2005, Donaldson started 39 games at third base, hitting .294 with seven home runs, and also began learning to play catcher. In his sophomore season, Donaldson hit .276 and led the team with ten home runs; he also threw out 15 of 38 base stealers and had seven pickoffs.

Professional career

The Chicago Cubs drafted Donaldson as a catcher in the first round (48th overall) of the 2007 Major League Baseball draft. In his first minor league season Donaldson played 53 games for the Rookie Arizona League Cubs.

Oakland Athletics

Donaldson was called up to the majors for the first time on April 30, 2010, filling in for injured catcher Kurt Suzuki. He made his debut that night as a pinch hitter, and struck out. The next day, he recorded his first major league hit, a two-run home run on the first pitch by Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Dana Eveland.

Donaldson officially converted to third base from catching in the beginning of the 2012 season during spring training. He started the regular season as the everyday third baseman for the A's for the first half, but due to struggles he was sent to the Triple-A Sacramento River Cats for much of the season.

During the 2014 season, Donaldson hit 98 RBIs, 29 home runs, and 93 runs scored, beating out his career highs with Oakland. However, Donaldson's batting average went down to .255. Donaldson would end up finishing 8th in the AL MVP voting.

Toronto Blue Jays

On November 28, 2014, the Athletics traded Donaldson to the Toronto Blue Jays for Brett Lawrie, Kendall Graveman, Sean Nolin, and Franklin Barreto. The following February, he lost his salary arbitration case against the Blue Jays after seeking $5.75 million. Instead, he was awarded the Blue Jays' offer of $4.3 million for the 2015 season.

From August 3–9, he batted .385 (10 hits in 26 at bats) with two doubles, five home runs, eight RBIs and nine runs scored as the Blue Jays won eight games in a row. This performance led to his second AL Player of the Week Award of the season.[24]

By the end of August, observers began referring to Donaldson's season as one of the best in Blue Jays' history. Several members of the media wrote articles naming him as the American League Most Valuable Player Award frontrunner over Mike Trout, and fans attending both home and away games began chanting "M-V-P! M-V-P!" when he would bat.

On August 31, 2018, the Blue Jays traded Donaldson to the Cleveland Indians for a player to be named later, later revealed to be pitching prospect Julian Merryweather.

Atlanta Braves

On November 26, 2018, Donaldson signed a 1-year, $23 million contract with the Atlanta Braves.

In 2019 he batted .259/.379/.521 with 37 home runs and 94 RBIs. He made contact with the lowest percentage of pitches he swung at in the strike zone (76.6%) of all NL batters.[62] On defense in 2019, he had a 15 Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) rating, the best in the National League among third basemen.