Colorado Rockies morning after: José Iglesias’ emotional debut

The Colorado Rockies lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers by a score of 5-3 on Opening Day on Friday. Overall, their downfall was the 4th inning, when the Rockies allowed all five of the runs to the Dodgers. It also knocked Kyle Freeland out of the game. But the story of the day was one of the newest additions to the Rockies offense: José Iglesias.

Iglesias was signed to replace Trevor Story at shortstop and while he isn’t as talented as Story overall but he was one of seven Rockies to tally a hit on Friday. In the second inning, he had an RBI single to score Connor Joe and to make it a 2-0 Rockies game at the time.

However, as soon as he reached base, Iglesias lost it. He started crying … and it wasn’t tears of joy.

Colorado Rockies shortstop José Iglesias was remembering his late father after his RBI single

Colorado Rockies shortstop José Iglesias started crying on the field because he was remembering his late father, Candelario. Candelario had been at every single MLB game that his son had played in. All 979 games.

But he passed away a few weeks ago so it was the first MLB game that José’s father was not there.

After the game, Iglesias told the media (including Danielle Allentuck of The Denver Gazette)  what his father meant to him and how instrumental he was for the success of his career.

“[That hit] was for him,” said Iglesias. “He was a big part of my life, a big part of my career. He was everything to me. His dream was to watch me in the big leagues. He told me once ‘If I can watch you play for one day, I’ll be good to go after that. He watched me play for 10 years … he’s in a better place now, watching me play every day.”

Iglesias is a career .277 hitter that hit .271 with a .701 OPS in 511 plate appearances between the Angels and Red Sox. The Rockies are hoping that he will hit at that level or better in 2022. At least he has his first hit out of the way in a Rockies uniform.

Iglesias and the Rockies will face the Dodgers tonight at 6:10 PM M.T. at Coors Field for the second of the three-game series.