The Big Lead

OMG: Phillies Veteran Believes Mets Utility Player Should Have Been NL MVP

By J.P. Hoornstra

Sep 18, 2024; New York City, New York, USA; New York Mets left fielder Brandon Nimmo (9) celebrates his three run home run against the Washington Nationals with starting pitcher Luis Severino (40) and designated hitter Starling Marte (6) and second baseman Jose Iglesias (11) during the fourth inning at Citi Field.
Sep 18, 2024; New York City, New York, USA; New York Mets left fielder Brandon Nimmo (9) celebrates his three run home run against the Washington Nationals with starting pitcher Luis Severino (40) and designated hitter Starling Marte (6) and second baseman Jose Iglesias (11) during the fourth inning at Citi Field. / Brad Penner-Imagn Images
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The Baseball Writers' Association of America members who voted on the National League Most Valuable Player Award were tasked with ranking their choices from 1-10. A total of 23 players appeared on at least one ballot. Jose Iglesias was not among them.

Iglesias had a fine season at age 34, slashing .337/.381/.448. By Baseball Reference's version of Wins Above Replacement, it was the best of his 12 major league seasons. Amassing 3.1 bWAR while playing only 85 games is incredibly difficult.

Yet the statistics are not what anyone will remember about Iglesias' 2024 season.

Iglesias recorded a Spanish-languge pop song, OMG, under the pseudonym Candelita. The song debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Latin Digital Song Sales survey in July. After a Mets home game in June, Iglesias (in full uniform) performed the song on the field as his teammates joined him on the field.

Iglesias performed the song again at the All-MLB awards show in Las Vegas in November. He was undoubtedly a fan favorite, a spark plug, and a valuable utility infielder as the Mets reached the National League Championship Series for the first time since 2015. But was he the Most Valuable Player in the National League?

Not only should he have won the award, Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Nick Castellanos said, he should have been the unanimous choice.

“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,” Castellanos said of his former Tigers teammate on the Chris Rose Rotation. “With him being able to come in and bring that Latin spark, knocked the ice off of [Francisco] Lindor, finally got [Mark] Vientos probably comfortable to be able to be an everyday third baseman.

Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor was the runner-up to Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani in the final voting. Lindor played 152 of a possible 162 games, hit 33 home runs, and stole 29 bases while providing Gold Glove-caliber defense at shortstop.

On paper, the math supporting Iglesias doesn't add up. Castellanos was willfully ignorant of that.

“The way I look at baseball," he told Rose, "Jose Iglesias is [the] unanimous National League MVP.”

Castellanos went on to acknowledge the incredible season Ohtani had in becoming the first known player in MLB history to steal 50 bases and hit 50 home runs in a single season.

“Shohei Ohtani played a huge part in the Dodgers winning,” Castellanos said. “I don’t know if he’s the sole purpose of the Dodgers moving in one direction. That doesn’t mean that what Shohei did isn’t record-book worthy and he’s not an amazing baseball player. If I’m starting a team, I pick Shohei over Jose. There’s no doubt about it. I’m not stupid.

“But the way that I saw baseball last year, with my eyeballs, Jose Iglesias is the National League MVP.”

Credit Castellanos for having an independent thought and standing by his convictions, but there's a reason 60 people get to vote on the award — and it's hard for 30 people to be that wrong.

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