Nick Castellanos has a wild pick for who should’ve won the 2024 NL MVP.

When baseball season starts, the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies are bitter rivals. However, Nick Castellanos has no problem giving credit to his Mets counterparts.

In fact, Castellanos believes a Met should’ve came home with the NL MVP in 2024. But rather than Francisco Lindor, the Phillies star believes Jose Iglesias deserved to hoist the MVP hardware, via Chris Rose Sports.

“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 Lindor, finally got [Mark] Vientos comfortable to finally be an everyday third baseman,” Castellanos said. “And now a bunch of guys that looked like they had no direction made the playoffs and got to where they did while the whole Mets organization had the OMG signs.”

“The way I look at baseball, Jose Iglesias is the unanimous MVP of the National League,” Castellanos continued. “Him going to the Mets and being himself got the organization to move in one direction.

The OMG signs were certainly prevalent, as Iglesias and his hit song helped bond New York. While he watched from afar, Castellanos saw how connected the Mets were and believes that unity is what helped them shine. To the Phillies star, that aspect of team buildings holds a brighter candle to success than pure stats.

Still, that doesn’t mean Iglesias was a complete dud in the box. Over 85 games, the infielder hit a career-high .337 with four home runs, 26 RBI and six stolen bases. Iglesias 3.5 WAR also set a new career-best.

Of course, the actual NL MVP went to Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani, who made MLB history by crushing 54 home runs and stealing 59 bases. He earned a league-best 9.2 WAR. And still, Castellanos’ vote would’ve went to Iglesias.

“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,” Castellanos said. “That doesn’t mean what Shohei did isn’t record book worthy. If I’m starting a team I pick Shohei over Jose. But the way I saw baseball last year through my eye balls, Jose Iglesias is the National League MVP.

Despite his strong season with the Mets, Iglesias is still available in free agency. If Nick Castellanos can pull some strings, maybe he can get the Phillies to sign a potential MVP candidate.