Witty Title

 Leaf is a very polarizing brand to me. They've given me so many Luís Torrens cards to collect over the years, but they pull all kinds of stupid bullshit. Whether it's that shady "Rize" brand they tried pulling off (still not touching that crap), or this.

This my friends is a Holiday Bonus buyback autograph of Torrens from 2017 Leaf. I don't know what product this originated in and I really don't give a fuck, and none of you should either. The only thing that matters is that it is now mine.

That fact matters a lot to me because this Leaf Metal Draft rainbow is the ONLY thing I've got that could be considered close to a master rainbow. I'm still a printing plate auto away from completion, but now I can at least sleep at night knowing some dumb gimmicky 1/1 isn't floating out in the ether, taunting me with its existence.

Congrats, @LuisTorrens13! 👏

His first big-league blast puts us on the board! pic.twitter.com/2JNxZfQC8e

— Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) September 14, 2020

Anyway now that Torrens has been the Seattle Mariner's everyday catcher for roughly a week things have been going pretty well for my favorite player ever. For starters he hit his first MLB career home run. A milestone that eluded him in spacious PetCo Park but was finally achieved in Safeco Field T-Mobile Park. In addition to that his productivity at the plate has been very promising, if not exciting. He's managed to reach base safely in most of his games, and his at-bats are very productive. He's also swinging with a lot of power that's generating a fair amount of exit-velo right off the bat. The rep on him back when he was a Yankees prospect was that he wouldn't be a dinger hitter but he's showing that he does have a fair bit that he's using with authority.

Luís Torrens has been, somewhat, the forgotten man in the massive trade that sent Austin Nola to San Diego. But there's something intriguing going on with his bat that bears monitoring over the rest of the season: https://t.co/f4aXCN7xTT

— Lookout Landing (@LookoutLanding) September 11, 2020

The Mariners' SB Nation blog Lookout Landing had a very nice piece that went into Torrens specifically. Noting that he could be one of the more interesting pieces the Mariners got in that trade, and of course they are 100% right. That article featured one of my tweets BTW, check it out.

Look at that frame job. Torrens' defense was also highly heralded in the minors thanks to his rocket arm and his genuine ability to just fucking catch, and he's finally getting a chance to show it with consistency against the greatest players in the world. He's doing a lot with a brand new pitching staff and a new pitching philosophy and he's done a a very good job on the fly.

It's still too early to say whether the Padres' shenanigans in 2017 messed up Torrens' development but as of now it looks like he's finally starting to come into his own as a very good catcher and it's been nothing short of exciting to see him be given a fair honest shot with zero roadblocks ahead of him.
Will he be traded like so many kinda expect? Maybe, maybe not. Either way, he's being given a chance to show he's worth keeping around to the M's brass and also showing that he's worth trading for to other teams. And he's been making the most of it.

Also say hi to Torrens' puppy, Kygo!

All in all I now have 19 Torrens 1/1 cards. One of these days I may take a pic of all 19 together but for now I'd rather watch Torrens play when nature allows. I'm still worried about the stuff going on on the west coast and wish everybody who's been affected by it the best and a swift recovery.

And as always thank you (the readers) for stopping by. Please remember to wash your hands, wear a mask when outside your house, maintain a safe distance from others in public, stay informed with the latest COVID-19 updates provided by the CDC and other appropriate authorities. Defund/abolish the police and reinvest in communities to make neighborhoods better and safer for everybody. ACAB.

Take care.