Donaldson lifts Jays from No. 2 hole
Josh Donaldson, you could say, had a pretty good night Wednesday in his first go-round out of the No. 2 hole in the Blue Jays’ batting order.
The new third baseman, with a swing that is the envy and study subject of many hitting experts, drove in three runs with a pair of singles and a double in the Jays’ 12-7 win over Tampa at the Rogers Centre.
Donaldson nearly had a grand slam too, making him the hitting star of the game, although rookies Devon Travis and Dalton Pompey and veteran Jose Bautista all homered. And Kevin Pillar made arguably the greatest homer-robbing catch at the Rogers Centre.
“It’s going to be tough to top that in my career . . . a walk off homer would be special, but I pride myself on my defence, it feels as good as hitting a home run,” Pillar said.
The Jays ticked off several highlights, including a franchise first in scoring two or more runs in the first five innings of a game. But Donaldson’s debut in the two-hole might have been the best piece of news for the Jays, who gave Russell Martin, their slumping regular No. 2 hitter, the night off.
That second slot was expected to be the sole possession of Martin, who is one of the best in the business there. But with Martin scuffling to start the season and the Jays trying to grow a rookie-laden roster, the thinking turned to Donaldson.
Stolen bases might have dipped over the last half-dozen years, but the threat of the steal still exists from the leadoff spot, and that puts the No. 2 hitter in an advantageous position. It is likely the No. 2 hitter will see more fastballs, and Donaldson has shown an ability to crush fastballs ever since his breakout season in 2013.
Donaldson is at his most dangerous with fastballs over the inside half of the plate and with pitches down in the zone. In a zone profile by Brooks Baseball of Donaldson’s 2013 season, stats show almost all of his extra base hits came off inside half fastballs.
He also draws walks at an aboveaverage clip, and he hit .319 and slugged at a .681 rate off curveballs in 2013 — all of which demonstrated an amazing dedication to reinventing his swing and throwing out previous hitting standards like swinging down on the ball.
When he was traded to the Jays on American Thanksgiving last November, hitting videos showing Donaldson’s swing flooded the Internet. He patterned it after players like the Jays’ Jose Bautista, Detroit’s Miguel Cabrera and Boston’s Allen Craig. Among the many results, his WAR over the past two seasons rose dramatically to 8.00 and 7.94 (8.00 is considered MVP level).
Donaldson is already familiar with the Jays’ new video rooms featuring six big screen TVs and individual video display screens — he is in there after every at bat — and it is this dedication that made him a nobrainer for the two-hole Wednesday.
“Josh is a guy I thought about (in the two hole) over the winter when we put Russell in there,” Jays manager John Gibbons said. “He has a good swing, so let’s try him there for awhile.”
Donaldson also entered Wednesday with 34 games experience bat- ting out of that spot, with a .275 average, .473 slugging percentage, five homers, nine doubles, and 19 RBIs.
He added three more Wednesday as the Jays rolled over the Rays with a 13-hit attack to rebound from a pair of losses to the better-than-advertised Rays in the first two games of this four-game series.
True to form, Donaldson was all over fastballs Wednesday. He had a dramatic moment in the second, just prior to a two-run single, when he lifted a monster fly to the second deck with the bases loaded. The ball was foul by a few feet.
Lefty Mark Buehrle worked six innings on seven hits to improve to 2-0. He has not lost in his last seven starts against Tampa, with six wins and a no-decision.