SPORTS

Pensacola native Donaldson named AL MVP for Blue Jays

From staff and wire reports

Third baseman Josh Donaldson, a Pensacola native and the leading engine in the Toronto Blue Jays’ high-powered offensive machine, was named Thursday the winner of the American League MVP award.

Donaldson, who grew up playing youth baseball in Pensacola, then played played on the Pace High junior varsity as a freshman, then varsity team later in sophomore year, received 23 first-place votes and totaled 385 points to beat out defending MVP Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels (304 points) and Lorenzo Cain of the Kansas City Royals (225).

Donaldson, 29, learned the game as a young boy playing in youth baseball leagues in the Pensacola area before attending Pace High.

He transferred to Faith Academy in Mobile before his junior season. He then went on to play three seasons for the Auburn Tigers before getting drafted as a catcher by the Chicago Cubs in the first round (48th overall) of the 2007 draft.

He has family connections and numerous friends in the Pensacola area.

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Why Donaldson won: In his first year in Toronto after an offseason trade from the Oakland Athletics, Donaldson led the league with 123 RBI and 122 runs scored while finishing third in home runs with 41, helping the Blue Jays reach the playoffs for the first time in 22 years.

Third baseman Josh Donaldson, the leading engine in the Toronto Blue Jays’ high-powered offensive machine, was named Thursday the winner of the American League MVP award.

Donaldson brought a gritty attitude to a club that had hovered on the edges or relevance for years before rallying late this season to win the AL East. Donaldson’s reckless abandon was exemplified by the sensational catch he made while diving into the stands pursuing a foul pop in June, one of the highlight plays of the season for the elite defender. Donaldson finished second in the league among third basemen in defensive runs saved and Ultimate Zone Rating.

But it was at the plate where he had the biggest impact, compiling a career-best .939 on-base-plus-slugging percentage that ranked third in the league. Donaldson, who didn’t draw an intentional walk all season, unquestionably benefited from hitting in the No. 2 spot in front of power-hitting Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion, but he also made the most of his chances.

With those fearsome sluggers combining for 120 homers, Toronto scored 891 runs, the biggest output in the majors since 2009.

By some measures, Trout may have had a better season than Donaldson. Based on figures compiled by both baseball-reference.com (9.4-8.8) and FanGraphs.com (9-8.7), Trout edged Donaldson in wins above replacement (WAR), a figure that purports to gauge a player’s value in all aspects of the game.

Trout had the AL’s highest OPS at .991 while batting .299 with 41 homers and 90 RBI. But the Angels’ failure to reach the playoffs – they finished third in the AL West with an 85-77 record – and Donaldson’s 33-RBI advantage may have tipped the scales in favor of the Toronto dynamo.

Cain’s offensive achievements did not match those of Donaldson or Trout – he batted .307 with 16 homers, 72 RBI and an .838 OPS – but he was one of the top defensive center fielders in the league for a Royals club that won the AL Central by 12 games.

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History says: This was Trout’s third runner-up spot in four years, to go along with his unanimous victory last year. He’s approaching Albert Pujols territory. Pujols, now his teammate, was in the top four in each of his first six seasons, with one win and three runner-up finishes.

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The reaction: Few would dispute that Trout reigns supreme as the game’s top player, but while the Blue Jays surged to the division crown by going 40-18 from Aug. 1 on, the Angels went just 30-29 in that spell and fell short. Also, voters may be experiencing a bit of Trout fatigue, to where a candidate with similar credentials looks appealing because he’s new and different.