At this time last year, the veteran middle infielder associated with saving the Mets’ season — first from a vibe standpoint, then from a production one — arrived at spring training in Port St. Lucie with nothing more than a minor-league deal, a one-year gap in his MLB résumé and a lengthy baseball career, which started back in 2011 when he debuted as a 21-year-old, stalled.
Jose Iglesias’ locker was the first one inside the Clover Park clubhouse along one wall. Mark Vientos, locked in a battle with Brett Baty to be the Opening Day third baseman, was directly next to Iglesias, followed by Rylan Bannon — a journeyman infielder without an MLB debut. It was an unassuming spring for Iglesias. Forget about the postgame “OMG” concert Candelita performed at Citi Field in June. Forget the .337 (.337!) batting average and .830 (.830!) OPS that a career .279 and .701 hitter, respectively, collected after 11 prior MLB seasons. Forget the fact that Iglesias became one of the Mets’ most reliable hitters by the time the postseason arrived, allowing manager Carlos Mendoza to slot him anywhere in the order and expect consistency to follow.
Before May 31, when the Mets selected him from Triple-A Syracuse, he wasn’t even on their MLB roster.
Iglesias wasn’t the only under-the-radar Met to emerge during the season and contribute to an improbable playoff run that reached the NLCS.
