There was a brief period before Shohei Ohtani won the NL MVP when fans wondered if it should go to a New York Mets star instead.
Some argued that Francisco Lindor brought more valuable impact to the Mets than Ohtani brought to the Dodgers because, at the time, Los Angeles had so much star power on the roster. Additionally, unlike Ohtani, the Mets star added tremendous value as a defensive fielder as well.
Phillies outfielder Nick Castellanos agreed that the MVP wasn’t Ohtani and played for the Mets, but his pick wasn’t Lindor.
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
Castellanos argued that if you’re looking at the most valuable player, it’s who has the most weight on creating wins for your team.
In his estimation, no other player had as much weight as the pop star slash infielder. He said that Iglesias brought in the Latin spark and knock the ice off Lindor, got Mark Vientos comfortable as a rising third baseman, and gave a team that was directionless some purpose.
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Iglesias was hardly the best player on his team, but Castellanos is at least making some fascinating points about what he believes is “valuable” from a teammate.
He added that the way “OMG” song and sign hit New York was the most important thing to happen to baseball. But when he was told that argument would not fly with the sabermetricians, he had the best response.
“I’m not a sabermetrician,” he said. “I’m a baseball player.”
