The 2024 season proved to be a historic one for Major League Baseball, seeing Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani reach new heights of what is possible on a baseball field.
Becoming the first member of the 50/50 club, Ohtani earned unanimous National League MVP honors, as rightly deserved. Exceeding even the wildest of expectations in his first year with the Dodgers, Ohtani’s performance was a boost to the Dodgers’ regular season success and postseason success.
But even with Ohtani’s 9.1 fWAR season, Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Nick Castellanos has a different measure for who the most valuable player was.
In an appearance on The Chris Rose Rotation, Castellanos mentioned New York Mets infielder Jose Iglesias as his ideal candidate for the National League MVP:
“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, knocked the ice off of (Francisco) Lindor, finally got (Mark) Vientos probably comfortable to be able to be an everyday third baseman. And now a bunch of guys that looked like they had no direction, running in all different directions in the beginning of the year, they made the playoffs and got to where they did while the whole Mets organization had the ‘OMG’ sings everywhere. The way I look at baseball, Jose Iglesias is the unanimous National League MVP.”
Castellanos’ view on the MVP, his stance and based on a personal opinion on what is valuable to a team’s success, despite his admission that Ohtani is the best player in baseball.
Even with Ohtani’s unbelievable season, he believes what Iglesias did thrust the Mets into a position to make their eventual postseason run:
“I’m not a sabermatrician, I’m a baseball player. I’m saying that him going to the Mets and being himself got the organization moving in one direction. Shohei Ohtani played a huge part in the Dodgers winning. 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.”
The Mets were in a sputtering position in the early stage of the regular season, but after Iglesias made his debut with the team on May 31, they posted a 66-40 record. There is some merit to what Castellanos said, but his overall value is more of a team award instead of a league-wide award.
Iglesias’ 2.5 fWAR pales in comparison to the year Ohtani had, but for a 35-year-old veteran infielder, he provided them with a stabilizing piece when shuffled around their infield.
Why was José Iglesias valuable to the Mets
Iglesias brought a different type of bat to a Mets lineup that had their fair share of pop. Batting .337/.381/.448 over 85 games, he was on base a lot of the time for the more potent bats to drive him in.
He carried a low strikeout rate (13.4%), which created opportunities for him to be useful as far as putting the ball in play. Iglesias’ glove is also a plus piece to his game.
In addition, Iglesias released his song, “OMG” that became a rallying cry for the Mets and their fans.
However, trying to compare him to Ohtani is still far-fetched even with his strong season.
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