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He recalled that he had been shocked by the trade, almost exactly one year ago, that made him a Blue Jay. Although observers saw him mesh quickly with his teammates in spring training, he said he finally felt that he belonged after hitting a walkoff home run against Atlanta on April 18 at the Rogers Centre.

But the Jays were treading water. And when Houston swept them in May, deepening their hold on last place, Donaldson decided to speak up. He held his teammates accountable, both in private conversation and in a sermon to reporters.

A week later, the Jays had abandoned last place for good.

Donaldson, who will turn 30 next month, is by turns intense, fun-loving, earnest and irreverent. He admitted that he sometimes falls short of diplomacy. But he said he learned a lot this year about when and how to communicate with his teammates. In the clubhouse, candour and openness marked the way he worked the room, and the way the room worked.

“If somebody had something to say, everybody let it be known,” he said. “It was always open forum each and every day. If somebody didn’t like what I did on the field, I expected them to say something to me. If I didn’t like something that somebody was doing — or, on the other side, if somebody was doing something I liked, I made sure to reinforce what they were doing that I appreciated.

“I think that’s kind of how you learn in this game, because there’s a lot of times, especially in the newer generation, that criticism doesn’t always go over well. And I think it’s important to not only be able to take criticism but to also be a self-critic and to be able to learn from mistakes. Sometimes the only way you’re going to learn is if somebody is in your ear, letting you know that this is what we need to do.”