At this point last year, the veteran middle infielder associated with saving the Mets' season – first from an atmosphere perspective, then from a production perspective – was not a minor league contract, but at Port St. Lucie. We arrived for spring training. A year gap in his MLB resume and a long baseball career. It started in 2011 when he debuted as a 21-year-old.
Jose Iglesias' lockers were the first lockers within the Clover Park Clubhouse along one wall. Mark Vientos, trapped in a battle with Brett Baty and trapped in his third baseman on the first day, was right next to Iglesias, followed by Rylan Bannon, a journeyman infielder who had no MLB debut. Ta. It was a modest spring for Iglesias. Forget Candelita from the Game Post Game “OMG” concert, which was performed at Citifield in June. Forget that the .337 (.337!) batting average and .830 (.830!) ops were collected after 11 MLB seasons, respectively. Forget the fact that Iglesias has become one of the Mets' most reliable batsmen by the time the postseason arrives, hoping that manager Carlos Mendoza will slot him everywhere in order and consistency will continue. Please.
On May 31, when the Mets chose him from Triple A Syracuse, he wasn't even on their MLB roster.
Iglesias was not the only radar to contribute to the unlikely playoff run that emerged during the season and reached the NLCS.
