Nick Castellanos provided the hot take of the MLB offseason by declaring to Jomboy Media’s Chris Rose that Jose Iglesias should have been the “unanimous” NL MVP in 2024.
The Phillies outfielder threw plenty of praise towards Iglesias, who became the face of the Mets turnaround last season with his contributions on the field and off, where he orchestrated the anthem of New York’s special campaign that ended two wins shy of a pennant.
“MVP of the National League,” Castellanos said bluntly when asked about Iglesias. “If you’re looking at the MVP as having the most weight on creating wins for your team, there’s no other player that has had that much weight as Jose Iglesias. With him being able to come in and bring that Latin spark, knock the ice off Lindor, finally got Vientos comfortable to be an everyday third baseman, and now, a bunch of guys that look like they had no direction…they got to the playoffs and did what they did while the whole Mets organization had the OMG signs. They were everywhere.”
Iglesias performed OMG live at Citi Field after a game during the summer, and players held up an OMG sign in the dugout after every home run. Most importantly, Iglesias was productive throughout the season, batting .337 with an .830 OPS and 26 stolen bases while playing three infield positions. Even in a season where Shohei Ohtani became the first 50/50 player in league history, Castellanos says Iglesias should have won the award when considering who was the most valuable to their team in 2024.
“The way I look at baseball, Jose Iglesias is the unanimous National League MVP,” Castellanos said.
“I’m not a sabermetrician. I’m a baseball player. Him going to the Mets and being himself got the organization to move in one direction…If I’m starting a team, I pick Shohei over Jose. There’s no doubt about it. I’m not stupid. But the way I saw baseball last year, through my eyeballs, Jose Iglesias is the MVP.”