For a pitcher, a move out of the rotation can feel like a detour. For Raisel Iglesias, it turned into a path to the All-Star Game.
Now with the Atlanta Braves and in Philadelphia for the Midsummer Classic, Iglesias said he is grateful the organizational decision to shift him away from starting worked out. He did not frame the change as a setback so much as a turning point, one that helped reshape his career and put him in position for recognition at the highest level.
“I’m grateful for it,” Iglesias said. “Everything worked out. I’m grateful the organization made a decision (for me to start) rotating away from that and then now here we find ourselves. Luckily, it all worked out.”
That perspective matters because Iglesias’s career path has a clear historical echo. Ten years ago, he made the first of what he hoped would be many Opening Day starts for the Cincinnati Reds. The dream was to be a starter. The reality, eventually, was different: he became a reliever, and more specifically a closer, a role that has now carried him into All-Star status.
A familiar blueprint from Cincinnati
The comparison point in Iglesias’s story is Aroldis Chapman. Fifteen years ago, the Reds signed Chapman out of Cuba to a reported $30 million contract, and in 2010 he spent most of the season in Triple-A as a starting pitcher before being moved to the bullpen down the stretch to manage his innings. The result was immediate. Chapman posted a 2.03 ERA in 15 relief appearances and even pitched a scoreless ninth inning on the night Jay Bruce hit a walk-off homer to clinch a playoff spot.
That is the broader lesson tucked inside Iglesias’s comments. Sometimes the sharpest career move is not the one a pitcher first imagines, but the one that best fits the arm, the repertoire and the reality of the league. In both Chapman’s case and Iglesias’s case, the bullpen was not a consolation prize. It was the stage on which they became elite.
Iglesias was careful not to rewrite his own history. “I wouldn’t know (how I’d have done) as a starter because I’m a reliever,” he said. That is part honesty and part recognition that baseball careers are shaped as much by opportunity as talent. He had starter ambitions once. Now he has a role that suits him, and he sounds comfortable with what it produced.
“I’m really proud of the career I’ve had so far. I’m happy where I am right now,” Iglesias said.
That is not a small conclusion for a pitcher who once expected a different track. It suggests something larger about roster decisions, player development and the thin line between a temporary adjustment and a defining change. Iglesias’s path is a reminder that the bullpen can be a destination, not just a fallback, and that moving away from starting can sometimes unlock the best version of a pitcher.
In Philadelphia, that decision is being rewarded with an All-Star appearance. Years after hoping to take the ball on Opening Day, Iglesias has found another kind of prestige. He is not where he first planned to be, but he may be exactly where his career was headed all along.
