Getty Image / Daniel Shirey
The baseball season has long been over. In fact, we are almost closer to opening the 2025 season than we are to the close of the 2024 season. But, thanks to Philadelphia Phillies slugger Nick Castellanos, we have something to talk about.
Castellanos stunned anyone who bothered to listen when he claimed that New York Mets platoon infielder Jose Iglesias deserved the NL MVP over Shohei Ohtani.
While Nick Castellanos is mostly known for being a meme of hitting home runs at funny times, he’s been a pretty good player during his career. He’s got a career OPS+ of 112 and has been one of the game’s most consistent right-handed hitters for a decade now with the Tigers, Cubs, Reds, and Phillies. Last year, he hit 23 home runs and drove in an impressive 86 runs for the Phillies. But, the Phillies, who had a great regular season, lost in the NLDS, 3-1, to the New York Mets.
The Mets must’ve made quite the impression on him, especially the middle infield. But, it wasn’t Francisco Lindor, who finished as NL MVP runner-up to Shohei Ohtani. Instead, it was platoon Mets second baseman Jose Iglesias that got the love. Take a look.
Nick Castellanos says that Jose Iglesias deserved to win NL MVP over Shohei Ohtani
“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” pic.twitter.com/vifn4Btx5Z
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) January 13, 2025
As a Mets fan, I loved Jose Iglesias last season. Not only did he bring the team a rallying cry in the form of his latin pop hit “OMG”, but he hit as well. Iglesias hit an impressive .337 in just under 300 at bats last year. That’s a number that would’ve won the batting title easily had he qualified. And, he played solid defense as well.
But, come on, Nick Castellanos. There’s no way that Jose Iglesias shoud’ve been the MVP of the league. He wasn’t the MVP of the Mets middle infield, as Francisco Lindor was phenomenal. Iglesias’s 3.1 WAR was very good, given he only played in 85 games. But, obviously, he was not the MVP of the National League, considering Shohei Ohtani’s monster 50-50 season.
Hopefully, Nick Castellanos was just doing a bit of trolling here.