What a Long-Awaited All-Star Nod Means to Braves Closer Raisel Iglesias

A big moment has finally arrived for Atlanta Braves closer Raisel Iglesias. It was an honor that he had written off for a time.

With all the solid seasons that he had had, being an All-Star wasn’t part of his resume.

“I’ll be completely honest. I sort of had lost interest or didn’t put so much stock into the All-Star Game after having so many years of just having what I thought were really good seasons and not being chosen,” Iglesias said, via Braves director of player relations Franco García translating.

For the most part, he admittedly was already planning accordingly. The All-Star Break was vacation days for him.

He has won multiple reliever of the month awards. He had even received Cy Young votes before. The trip to the Midsummer Classic evaded him until July 4, 2026.

Iglesias got the call alongside four other teammates. Manager Walt Weiss gave him the announcement as part of a team meeting.

“That one was extra special, for me and for everybody,” Weiss said. “Handing him that All-Star package was pretty cool, and you can see he was really just - he was almost overwhelmed by it.”

The attitude toward the All-Star Game quickly fell to the wayside. His moment had arrived, and he doesn’t plan to let it pass him by.

“I’m going to go make the most of it. I’m going to give it maximum effort. 100%. One more game to add to the season, and just try to take it all in.”

His numbers this year made it hard to ignore his case. In 28 games, he had a 1.58 ERA, 17 saves and a 1.05 WHIP with 32 strikeouts. He’s fifth in saves in the National League.

In a season where the Braves had one of their best starts in franchise history, a whole group was bound to be selected. The closer had to be one of them.

Soon enough, we'll learn if he'll get the chance to pitch in the game as well. He and Chris Sale have the chance to both see action up in Philadelphia. Seeing two story arcs intersect in one game would make for a nice story.

Then, he'll truly be able to check off the remaining boxes for an accomplished career that began as a starting pitcher in Cincinnati back in 2015. He can say he had an All-Star career. No one can ever take that away from him.

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