The Mets have had some really good backup catchers throughout their history. When did this exactly start? Maybe it was Ed Hearn covering for the injured Gary Carter in 1986 or Mackey Sasser’s offense a few years later. Add names such as Todd Pratt, Vance Wilson, and Ramon Castro to the mix, and you will have names that are valuable on just about any team in Mets history.
The Mets acquired Luis Torrens from the Yankees a week ago for 100k. Everyone said, “Who?” and even an eyebrow was raised when the highly paid Omar Narvaez was released before Francisco Alvarez returned from the IL.
Torrens was a career 4-A player with only one shot to play every day, which came in 2021 in Seattle. Sure, he can pop some home runs, but nothing on the Baseball Reference page indicated he had elite catching skills. The thought was he would plug a need for about a week and perhaps stick around after as organizational depth.
Since then, he’s had a two-homer game, looked like Mike Piazza at the plate, and saved another with his glove. In between, he’s shown excellent receiving skills while earning rave reviews for his game-calling from pitchers like Luis Severino, who threw eight innings of one-run ball under his watch.
Torrens’ play in just a week had won him the backup catching job before the game-ending double play in London. That play validated the growing sentiment the Mets would choose the scrapheap pickup over a long-time organizational guy in Tomas Nido.
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