J.D. Martinez Pushed Mets to Call-Up Jose Iglesias To Provide Spark in 2024

When Martinez wrapped his rehab assignment in Syracuse on April 24th, New York was 13-11 and just 4.5 games back in the NL East. Things would get much worse, however; the team went just 9-19 in May, with the Mets dropping series against Tampa Bay, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Miami, Cleveland, San Francisco, and the Los Angeles Dodgers. It was their worst month of the season, with a .321 winning percentage, a -42 run differential, and being on the wrong end of three different sweeps.

Now 15.5 games back at the end of May and solidly in fourth place, the front office took Martinez's advice and called up Iglesias.

The spark provided by "Candelita" powered the Mets to a 65-40 record down the stretch, a Wild Card berth, and a chance to play for the National League pennant against the eventual World Series champion Dodgers.

Martinez attributed the turnaround to the energy that Iglesias brought to the clubhouse on a daily basis. "He's a guy that comes in and he just doesn't shut up. He's just jumping around, he's a little chatterbox. You need guys like that in the clubhouse. You need those veteran guys that are pulling the team together, not pushing people apart."

The designated hitter also revealed that he was the one that started the "OMG" phenomenon among the roster. "I put the song on as a joke when he got called up. I was like 'in honor of Iglesias making the team, we gotta listen.' We just won a game, we played it, and the guys loved it."

Martinez was the one that had to make OMG an integral part of the team's home run celebration, as well. "And then I was like, 'dude, we should make this our home run song.' [...] We started having a blast with it and all of a sudden, it became a catchy thing, it became our song, and the rest is history."

Martinez also revealed what happened to the iconic "OMG" sign that players would pose with in the dugout after a home run: He has it prominently displayed in his home office, among his most valuable memorabilia from his long and storied playing career. "That's the original one, signed by everybody."

The Mets might not be done with Iglesias, either, with the team reportedly making an one-year offer to the sparkplug veteran infielder earlier this week.

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