John McDonald

John Joseph McDonald (born September 24, 1974) is an American former professional baseball infielder.

McDonald graduated from East Lyme High School in East Lyme, Connecticut in 1992.

When he was not drafted by any major league baseball team in his initial draft year, he attended University of Connecticut Avery Point Campus, where he was NJCAA Division II All-American in 1994 as shortstop.

He went on to play at Providence College in 1995 and 1996 on a partial scholarship, earning All-New England honors as a member of one of the last baseball teams before the college discontinued its baseball program.

In 1995, he played collegiate summer baseball with the Bourne Braves of the Cape Cod Baseball League.

After he was drafted in 1996, he left Providence to pursue a career in professional baseball.

McDonald was drafted in the 12th round of the 1996 Major League Baseball draft (363rd overall) by the Cleveland Indians, and entered the Indians' minor league system.

In 1996, he played with the Watertown Indians of the Single A New York–Pennsylvania League, then moved to the Kinston Indians of the Single A Carolina League in 1997.

In 1998, he was invited to the Indians' spring training camp, and moved up to the Akron Aeros of the Double A Eastern League, where his defensive plays at shortstop made him a popular player with the fans.

He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Cleveland Indians, Toronto Blue Jays, Detroit Tigers, Arizona Diamondbacks, Pittsburgh Pirates, Philadelphia Phillies, Boston Red Sox, and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim between 1999 and 2014.

Primarily a shortstop, he was also a utility infielder, with the ability to also play second base, third base and left field.

McDonald split 1999 between Akron and the Buffalo Bisons of the Triple A International League and was also called up to the major leagues for a short stint.

McDonald made his major league debut for Cleveland on July 4, 1999, and appeared in 18 games for the Indians that season.

McDonald also appeared in a number of games for the Indians in 2000 and 2001, spending the remainder of each season in Buffalo.

He appeared in nine games for the Indians in 2000, another 17 games in 2001, and in 2002, he made his move to the Indians' roster, appearing in 93 games.

The Indians, taking advantage of McDonald's popularity in Akron, used McDonald in promotions there to draw Aeros fans to Cleveland.

After three full seasons with the Indians, McDonald was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays on December 2, 2004, in exchange for Tom Mastny.

In his six full and partial seasons with Cleveland, McDonald batted .231, with a fielding average of .971.

During the first part of the 2005 season with the Blue Jays, McDonald was primarily a backup for Russ Adams at shortstop, and recorded a .290 batting average with 12 RBI in 37 games.

He was traded to the Detroit Tigers on July 22 for future considerations.

During the remainder of the season with Detroit, McDonald hit .260 with 4 RBI and a .308 on-base percentage in 31 games.

On November 10, 2005, the Tigers sent him back to the Toronto Blue Jays for cash considerations, in effect completing the earlier trade by trading John McDonald for himself.

Only three other players have been traded for themselves in this manner (Harry Chiti, Dickie Noles, and Brad Gulden).

McDonald is the only one of the four who played in the major leagues at every step of the trade sequence: for the team that initially traded him away, for the team that obtained him in the trade for a player to be named later (PTBNL), and once again for the initial team after being traded back as the PTBNL.

The other players were either sent to the minors or were granted free agency immediately after being traded back as the PTBNL.

During the 2006 season, McDonald was the starting shortstop for the Toronto Blue Jays.

On July 25, 2006, he hit his first career grand slam in a game against the Seattle Mariners and also drove in a career high of five runs.

Although McDonald showed good defensive skills, his offensive hitting skills were weak—he had a .223 batting average, a .271 slugging percentage and a .308 on-base percentage during the 2006 season.

In an attempt to inject some stronger hitting into the shortstop position, the Blue Jays obtained Royce Clayton in the off-season, and McDonald and Clayton started the 2007 season sharing shortstop duties.

McDonald also started some games at third base as Troy Glaus's backup.

Later in the season, after demonstrating his strong defensive abilities, McDonald replaced Clayton as the everyday starting shortstop, and Clayton was subsequently released.

McDonald took the opportunity as starting shortstop to make some exceptional defensive plays (often in conjunction with fellow infielders Aaron Hill and Lyle Overbay).

He was considered by some baseball writers to be a Gold Glove contender after leading AL shortstops with a .986 in fielding percentage.

(Orlando Cabrera was subsequently chosen.) Due in large part to his defensive abilities, McDonald received a two-year contract extension from the Blue Jays reportedly worth $3.8 million in September 2007.

In a poll of viewers on Rogers Sportsnet, McDonald was voted the most popular Blue Jay, narrowly edging out Cy Young-winning pitcher Roy Halladay.

Despite his contract extension, McDonald again started another season, 2008 as the back-up shortstop due to the Blue Jays' off-season acquisition of all-star shortstop David Eckstein.

However, when Eckstein was traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks on August 31, McDonald once again became the starting shortstop.

At that time he was still several courses short of completing a degree; he earned his degree in 2010.

He also appeared in one extra inning game in 2013 as an emergency pitcher.

Known for his defensive ability, he posted a career fielding percentage of .974 in over 6,450 innings.