What’s better than hitting one baseball over 100 mph? Hitting TWO baseballs over 100 mph.

And hey, if you can manage to hit THREE baseballs over 100 mph in the same game, that is impressive.

That’s exactly what Luis Torrens did on Wednesday evening in Washington D.C., as he smashed two home runs (plus a screamer of a line-out) to help power the Mets to a sweep over the Nationals. 

The 28-year-old catcher opened the scoring for the Mets in the top of the third with an opposite-field bomb off left-hander Patrick Corbin. The ball left the bat at 103 MPH and landed 398 feet away over the right-center field wall.

Later in the sixth, he padded the Mets lead with another solo shot to straightaway center. This one was crushed even further, falling 404 feet from home plate and leaving in a hurry at 101.6 MPH.

With Francisco Alvarez looming on the horizon as the sole holder of the starting spot at catcher, the Mets have a decision to make. Tomás Nido looked to be the surefire candidate for the backup catcher role until the Mets traded with the Yankees for Torrens last week.

It doesn’t help Nido’s case that Torrens caught an absolute gem from Luis Severino, who threw eight innings and only gave up one earned run. Torrens and Severino do have a history together, having been within the Yankees farm system at the same time back in the early 2010s.

Torrens also showed off a great arm behind the plate, catching Jesse Winker stealing in the bottom of the fifth. Torres became the eighth catcher in Mets history to have two home runs and a caught stealing in the same game. 

His busiest and best year thus far came in 2021, when he played 108 games with the Seattle Mariners, slashing .243/.299/.431 with 15 home runs and 47 RBIs. 

2021 saw Torrens hit in the upper 50% of the league in both average exit velocity, barrel percentage, hard hit percentage, and chase rate. His caught stealing was above average and was also in the league’s upper half, albeit his other defensive metrics were lackluster. 

However, the 28-year-old has not been able to replicate since. His sample size is quite small, so we will have to see if Torrens can keep the hot bat going before Alvarez makes his return.