The Toronto Blue Jays have many of baseball’s hottest hitters right now, so it should come as no surprise that one of them earned American League Player of the Week honours. A three-home run week helped Josh Donaldson beat out fellow Blue Jays Edwin Encarnacion and Michael Saunders to earn the award for the fourth time in his career.
Donaldson went 12 for 27 with four doubles, a triple and nine runs driven in to win the award for the first time in 2016. The 30-year-old led the league in total bases (27) and extra-base hits (8) for the week ending June 19th and tied for first in slugging percentage (1.000).
He wasn’t the only Blue Jays hitter to put together a big week, though. Encarnacion hit .381 with three homers, Saunders had a three-homer game in which he drove in eight runs and Devon Travis hit .545 with four doubles.
Elsewhere in the American League Justin Upton, Salvador Perez, Franklin Gutierrez, Didi Gregorius and Colby Lewis had weeks worthy of consideration for the award.
For the season, Donaldson’s hitting .274/.385/.563 with 17 home runs. His .947 OPS actually represents a slight improvement compared to 2015, when he posted a .939 mark on his way to an MVP.
The third baseman’s hitting particularly well this month with a 1.191 OPS that ranks fourth among AL hitters. Saunders’ 1.217 OPS leads the way in June with Encarnacion (1.214) and Evan Longoria (1.202) close behind.
The Blue Jays have the day off Monday before hosting the Arizona Diamondbacks for two games starting Tuesday.
