Third baseman Josh Donaldson has announced his retirement after playing 13 Major League Baseball seasons. He will retire with three All-Star selections, two Silver Slugger awards, and a former American League Most Valuable Player.
Donaldson also won the 2015 Hank Aaron Award as the American League’s top hitter that year. He also received the 2019 National League Comeback Player of the Year award after batting .259/.379/.521 with 94 runs batted in, 142 hits, and 37 home runs for the Atlanta Braves.
Josh Donaldson has announced his retirement after 13 seasons, three All-Star selections, two Silver Slugger Awards, and 2015 AL MVP honors. pic.twitter.com/7XUZDZ4PxS
— MLB (@MLB) March 4, 2024
The year before winning the NL CBPOY trophy, he played only 52 games for the then-Cleveland Indians and the Toronto Blue Jays.
Donaldson started his career with the Oakland Athletics. He played four seasons with the California-based squad before getting traded to the Blue Jays for Kendall Graveman, Franklin Barretto, Brett Lawrie, and Sean Nolin.
He became one of the league’s best players in Toronto, winning the 2015 AL MVP after hitting .297/.371/.568 with a league-leading 122 runs, an AL-leading 123 RBIs, 184 hits, and 41 home runs.
After four seasons in Toronto, the Blue Jays traded him to the Indians and played until the end of the 2018 season. The following year, he signed a one-year, $23 million deal to play for the Atlanta Braves.
Donaldson also played for the Minnesota Twins and the New York Yankees before joining the Milwaukee Brewers, his last MLB team.
Aside from retiring this offseason, he recently married Briana Miller, his partner for seven years and the mother of their two children.
-Lance Fernandez