Blue Jays: Who had the best offensive three-year stretch?

3.  Josh Donaldson – 2015-2017

The Blue Jays acquired Josh Donaldson ahead of the 2015 MLB season and at the time paid a hefty price by sending three prospects and a young major league ready infielder in Brett Lawrie to the Oakland Athletics. The Blue Jays won the trade by a landslide as Donaldson would become one of the top-hitting third basemen in the American League over the next three seasons.

Donaldson endeared himself to fans early in his career at just 38 games into his first season.  The team had just lost their fourth straight game and dropped the Blue Jays to 17-21 on the season.  In a postgame interview, Donaldson called out his whole team stating “This isn’t the try league, this is the get it done league and eventually they are going to find people who are going to get it done”.  The team continued to struggle over the next few weeks but put things together that eventually led to their first pennant in 22 years thanks in large part to Donaldson’s production.  Donaldson would win just the second MVP in franchise history in a season he led the league in RBI (123) while earning a slash line of .297/.371/.568 and lifting 41 balls over the fence.

Donaldson was the model of consistency over the next two seasons, as he put up almost identical numbers that led to a top-four AL-MVP finish and a second Silver Slugger Award in 2016.  The MVP third basemen is just one of four players in franchise history to have at least 110 home runs over a three-year time frame while having the fourth-best OPS (.974) over that same time period.  Unfortunately for Donaldson, injuries would hamper his final season with the club in 2018, or he may have earned an extension and be really listed as one of the top greats in franchise history.

During the time frame between 2015 and 2017, Donaldson averaged 31 doubles, 37 home runs, 100 RBI, while posting a slash line of .285/.387/.559 and a .946 OPS.