Now two full months into the 2013 season, Oakland Athletics third baseman Josh Donaldson has racked up enough plate appearances for us to consider the fact that we’re no longer looking at a small sample size. The former Cubs catching prospect, shipped to Oakland in the Rich Harden swap in 2008 and converted to the hot corner in 2011 is crushing pre-season predictions, as well as hanging breaking pitches, over the Coliseum walls.

Fantasy owners who picked up Donaldson early can't help but be ecstatic about the 27-year-old's offensive production, but any time a formerly pedestrian ballplayer sets out on an early season tear, the question must be asked: will he continue to perform at this level for an entire season? To better comprehend what the future holds for Donaldson, we must examine his past.

By virtue of playing in relative obscurity with the Athletics’ minor league system, Donaldson didn’t find his name atop many “Top Prospects” lists. After being drafted in the first round out of Auburn, he rose through the Cubs and Athletics minor league systems flashing good power, especially considering his position, but stalled at AAA Sacramento in 2010 with a .238 batting average and 79 strikeouts in only 294 at bats. Brief call-ups to the big club in May and September proved that Donaldson needed time to mature, as he batted only .156, striking out in 35 percent of his plate appearances. 2011 marked great improvements in his plate discipline, and a solid Spring Training earned him a spot on the 2012 Opening Day roster. He got off to a slow start, which sent him packing back to Sacramento in mid-June, but when he was promoted again in August, Donaldson's playing time, and offensive numbers, slowly began to rise.

Fast forward to 2013. No amount of statistical nit-picking can prove that Donaldson’s season has been anything but a revelation. In fact, his early-season surge has led some of the greatest baseball minds - who predicted his numbers would be closer to replacement-level than All-Star status - to rethink their forecasts. Donaldson is hitting .332 on the season through Game 3 of the Athletics series with the Giants, reaching base at a .404 percentage and slugging .556. He has shown a knack for getting on base, often not stopping at first, as evidenced by his 27 of 65 hits that have gone for extra bases. Batting in the fifth and sixth positions, often behind Yoenis Cespedes and Brandon Moss, who have both struggled to get on base with consistency, Donaldson has managed to drive in 33 runs.

A sabermetric statistic gaining popularity among more mainstream baseball analysts is BABIP, or batting average on balls in play. Lengthy formulas aside, this measurement helps to decipher whether a player’s atypically high numbers are a fluke or low numbers are an anomaly. The theory behind BABIP is that, in general, 30 percent of balls put into play are scored as hits. A BABIP well over .300 or well under .300 is likely due to defensive positioning and luck (whether good or bad), and the player will eventuallly regress (or rise) back to the norm, which will take effect their batting average. Donaldson’s BABIP in 2013 is high (.370), while not an indicator that his season can be dismissed as a fluke, is evidence that his numbers are likely to decline somewhat.

However, if you’re of the argument that random variation is the cause of Donaldson’s success, I urge you to look further. Power has been a component of Donaldson’s game since being drafted, but the fact that he is striking out in only 16.5 percent of his plate appearances, and showing new willingness to take walks (reaching via bases on balls in 11 percent of plate appearances) indicate his plate discipline, never exhibited before at the major league level, has caught up with the rest of his offensive tools. This can be thanked, above all else, for his production. After all, it’s difficult to hit for power and drive in runs if you can’t make contact. If Donaldson continues to be selective at the plate, you can expect to have a high-average, power-hitting cornerstone on your roster, and kudos to you for seeing it before the rest of your league did.