Former NY Mets player meant to replace Jose Iglesias signs with the LA Angels

If you’re going to replace Jose Iglesias from the 2024 New York Mets, you’re going to either need to teach someone how to sing or have Bad Bunny learn how to hit a curveball. The Mets went with the former option, choosing to find a ballplayer who might have a music career in the future rather than the other way around.

Iglesias was the most popular player on the 2024 team because of the life he injected into a seemingly dead ball club. Replace him? The Mets tried.

Nick Madrigal signed a contract with the Mets last offseason to become their infield utility man. An unsuccessful first-round draft pick who had become more of a light-hitting backup infielder who’d be useful in the right circumstances, we never got to see what he could give the Mets. In his first spring training game, Madrigal broke his shoulder. We never saw him again.

Nick Madrigal’s new contract puts a lot less pressure on him than what the Mets were asking for

Madrigal was bound to wind up somewhere and it’ll be the Los Angeles Angels. They won’t ask him to replace a fan favorite. He’s merely on a minor league deal with an opportunity to fight his way back to the big leagues.

Lifetime numbers for Madrigal in the big leagues are actually promising, slashing .274/.323/.344. We can see a distinctive strength and weakness. The OBP is barely below the slugging percentage. He puts the bat on the ball, averaging only 48 strikeouts per 162 games. The fourth overall pick from the 2018 draft, however, has only logged 285 total games and never more than 92 in a season.

His big league experience includes time with both Chicago teams, originally drafted by the White Sox. In retrospect, this wasn’t such a bad move by the Mets. Who could have seen a spring training injury happening in such a fluke manner?

The absence of Madrigal last year didn’t really do much to change the outlook of the Mets. It made Luisangel Acuna a lock for the roster, but his strong start to the season didn’t extend for too long. Ronny Mauricio took on a regular bench role for the Mets as well, but even he seemed to not quite fit into the gig meant for Madrigal.

For better or probably worse, the structure of last year’s Mets team was different from 2024. They did have a preferred defensive alignment at the end of games. Among their issues in 2025, the absence of a beloved infielder wasn’t one of them. More so, it’s that lack of clutch hitting Iglesias brought them.