The Most Iconic Diamond Dynasty Cards in MLB The Show History

Jin Kim Series John Donaldson (MLB The Show 23)

San Diego Studios liked the idea of custom artwork for a series of Diamond Dynasty cards because for MLB The Show 23, they repeated a similar series from the Takashi Series, creating the Sanford Greene and Jin Kim series. Both created card art for the new Negro League players that were introduced for MLB The Show 23. Greene is a comic artist who has done work for Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, and Image. Kim was a former character designer for Disney Animation. Kim created the artwork for the now notorious John Donalson 99 overall card.

Donaldson was released in July and immediately became a staple in many people’s rotations. Donaldson has 110 hits/9 and 105 K/9, and with 115 clutch, his numbers play up. The lefty has an outlier fastball, but his low-90s slider is his primary pitch. If that wasn’t insane enough, he has a low-80s forkball and slurve. The icing on the cake is the fact he has a sinker. It’s also not hard to control his pitches, as he has 97 BB/9 and 90 control.

Donaldson is a two-way player card who can play first base and all three outfield spots. His hitting numbers fall far behind his pitching ability with only one 100+ attribute, that being his 105 contact vs RHP. He also has 91 contact vs. LHP and 85/76 power splits. 81 vision is okay, but not great. Though you could definitely use him as a late-game replacement in the outfield, given his 94 fielding/91 arm strength and 92 speed.