Please, please tell me now. How can a guy who was described as a “bum” by a widely respected British baseball expert suddenly transform into one of the most exciting baseball players in the world?
The Mexico team that faced Great Britain in the World Baseball Classic in 2023 was full of MLB stars. The top of the lineup featured Randy Arozarena, Alex Verdugo, Joey Meneses, Rowdy Tellez, and Isaac Paredes. Little did I realise that the centre fielder, who went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts, would become one of baseball’s most feared hitters in MLB a couple of years later.
Last season, Red Sox (and soon-to-be Netflix) superstar Jarren Duran outshone more illustrious names, like Gunnar Henderson, Kyle Schwarber, and Shohei Ohtani, with 88 extra-base hits from the lead-off spot.
| Extra-base hits from the lead-off position. | |
| Jarren Duran | 80 |
| Gunnar Henderson | 63 |
| Kyle Schwarber | 60 |
| Shohei Ohtani | 60 |
| Francisco Lindor | 58 |
Duran, whose mother might or might not be Latin America’s biggest Simon Le Bon fan, was suspended for two games in August after shouting a homophobic slur at a heckling Astros fan.
Despite missing these two games, the speedy left-hander led MLB with 735 plate appearances. That’s pretty astonishing. You need to go back to 2018 for the last time a player who missed two games led the league in plate appearances – Francisco Lindor, as you asked.
Jarren Duran’s breakout season
If his WBC appearance was inauspicious, then his 2023 season – eight home runs, 24 walks-to-90 strikeouts in half a season of plate appearances – gave no indication of the 2024 season ahead.
In fact, when Duran went 0-for-4 against the Orioles on 9 April 2024, he had only managed one extra-base hit in the opening 11 games, and then made this sloppy error at the start of a three-game sweep by Baltimore.
Undoubtedly, you will see this clip and Duran’s subsequent expletive-filled locker room rant in the forthcoming Netflix series.
This wasn’t the first time Duran made the news for a sloppy defensive play. Back in 2022, Duran lost sight of a Raimel Tapia flyball, and when it dropped behind him, watched on impassively as Alex Verdugo scrambled to cover and attempt to prevent an inside-the-park Grand Slam.
Fast forward to 2024, and between the dropped catch game to the All-Star break, Duran exploded with 47 extra-base hits, including 10 home runs with an .833 OPS.
Although I’m not a fan of the All-Star game, you can’t take anything away from Duran hitting the game-winning two-run homer on his way to clinching the 2024 All-Star Game Most Valuable Player Award.
The former seventh-round pick from the 2018 draft just got better and better over the next 20 games, hitting .333 AVG (1.021 OPS) until a moment of stupidity in the final game of the series against Houston.
He reacted to an Astros fan who had been heckling him all game, by yelling, what Duran described as “a truly horrific” anti-gay slur. The outfielder immediately apologised to the catcher and umpire, but the damage was already done as the homophobic slur was heard on NESN’s broadcast of the game.
His mea culpa seemed genuine, as too did his acknowledgement that he needed to learn from the experience. The Red Sox were quick to act and suspended their hottest player for two games.
Side note: It depresses me that an incident like this gets coverage in The Guardian, The Independent and on the BBC. I long for the day when respected British media outlets cover baseball for the sport and not the controversy. It will come.
Although Duran ran out of steam in September, either fatigue or opposition making adjustments, he finished the season with a remarkable transformative slash line of .285/.342/.492 with 21 home runs and 34 stolen bases. The 28-year-old led MLB with 48 doubles and 14 triples.
He also garnered enough MVP support for eighth position in the AL, one spot ahead of Yordan Alvarez. Not even I was bold enough to predict that.
The last time the Boston Red Sox had a player finish in the Top 8 of AL MVP voting was Xander Bogaerts in 2019.
The accolades continued when Duran was named in the ALL-MLB Second Team alongside fellow outfielders Jackson Merrill and Teoscar Hernandez. This is no mean feat, considering the First Team’s outfield was Aaron Judge, Mookie Betts, and Juan Soto.
Oh, as he was also nominated for a Silver Slugger and Gold Glove.
2025 starts on a sour note
Baseball salary discrepancies are anathema to me. Given the previous section of this article, especially the bit about no Boston player finishing in the Top 8 of MVP voting since 2019, you could be forgiven for thinking that the Red Sox would cherish their newly found five-tool leadoff hitter. However, it appears that Boston’s front office is potentially shooting itself in the foot.
In this first year of arbitration, Duran submitted $4 million while the club offered $3.5 million. With no agreement (as of Tuesday 14 January), it looks like they are heading to arbitration over a seemingly tiny difference.
There is a lot of red on Jarren Duran’s Baseball Savant page to be quibbling over $500K.
This looks like a recipe for disaster for the franchise valued at $4,500,000,000 (specifically written out in full to show how many zeroes are involved in $4.5 billion). Duran has been open about his mental health issues, so getting picked apart by his employers ahead of spring training might not be the best preparation for the new season.
It feels like a very short-sighted approach by the Red Sox, which could end up costing way more than $500K.
Featured image of Jarren Duran by Cole Burston
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