Red Sox's Jarren Duran will get warm ovation his next at-bat. His struggle touches us all

New York Times

07-04-2025

BOSTON — Jarren Duran is going to get quite an ovation the next time he steps up to bat at Fenway Park. It'll be thunderous, yet somehow warm. It'll be heartfelt, but from the gut. And it'll have absolutely nothing to do with the breakout, MVP-caliber season Duran gave the Red Sox in 2024.
In the fourth installment of the Netflix eight-part documentary, 'The Clubhouse: A year with the Red Sox,' which will be available on Tuesday, Duran reveals that he made a suicide attempt — apparently in 2022, which was a season of struggles for the then-25-year-old outfielder. The Athletic's Jen McCaffrey, who was among media members who received a copy of the documentary before its release, reports that Duran spoke candidly about his mental health in the fourth episode, titled 'Still Alive.'
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Duran has discussed these issues in past interviews, but this is the first time he has talked publicly about suicide. What that does, in an instant, is transform this sensationally talented ballplayer — he's now 28 — into one of us. To consider that Duran considered suicide forces all of us to do an accounting of the people we've known who, for a myriad of reasons, felt compelled to take their own lives. For some, it's been a family member, a friend, a co-worker. Or it's one of our friend's loved ones. It's the kid down the street. It's someone you haven't seen in years, the news arriving through an item in the paper, or a Facebook post, or a story that gets mentioned at a school reunion.
It touches all of us. And so it will be for Red Sox fans the next time they see Duran on the field at Fenway, be it Monday night's series opener against the Toronto Blue Jays, or Tuesday's game.
It won't be the first time Red Sox fans have supported a player going through a hard time off the field. On June 17, 1986, the mother of Red Sox third baseman Wade Boggs was killed when the car she was driving was broadsided by a cement truck. Boggs returned home to Florida to be with his family and attend the funeral of Sue Boggs. He returned after missing six games and was in the lineup at Fenway for Boston's June 23 game against the New York Yankees. Boggs received a standing ovation from the 35,355 fans who packed the place. An emotional Boggs felt compelled to step out of the batter's box.
'That resonates so much with me right now,' Boggs said in 2016 when he returned to Fenway for the retirement of his No. 26. 'I looked at the umpire and said, 'Are we going to start the game?' And he said, 'No, I'm enjoying this.' The fans were so supportive, so wonderful.'
They didn't cheer because Boggs was leading the American League in hitting at the time, or because he was on his way to the third of his five career batting titles in what turned out to be a Hall of Fame career. To see Boggs at the plate that night was to see a man who was just now getting back to work after losing his mother under tragic circumstances. Who couldn't identify with that?
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And so it'll be for Duran. Sox fans cheered wildly last season as Duran submitted a .285/..342/.492 slash line and led the American League in doubles (48) and triples (14). They cheered as Duran's once-erratic outfield defense improved to a degree that he was in the Gold Glove discussion. They cheered him for the two-run homer in the All-Star Game that provided the margin of victory in the AL's 5-3 victory over the NL.
Duran has had a couple of unsettling on-field incidents. In 2022, after misplaying a ball in the outfield at Kansas City, he had to be restrained by teammate Alex Verdugo when he began jawing with fans. Last August at Fenway, a live mic on NESN picked up Duran yelling a homophobic slur, presumably intended for the louth-mouth fan who can be heard shouting at him. Duran was suspended for two games in that case.
Red Sox players being jeered at Fenway isn't new. It happened to Ted Williams, who always said he wanted to be the greatest hitter that ever lived, and by most measures was just that. It happened to Carl Yastrzemski, who replaced Williams in left field and forged his own Hall of Fame career.
Duran was wrong on both occasions, but things were adjudicated and life went on.
Duran talks about fans in the Netflix documentary.
'I feel like people see us as zoo animals sometimes, in this big ole cage, throw popcorn at you, get a picture with you, get your attention, scream your name,' Duran says.
'Sometimes some fans take it too seriously,' Duran says. 'I feel like they cross the line when they talk about my mental health and make fun of me for that, calling me weak. It triggers me when you start talking about my mental health. Part of it is that loneliness, some people deal with it better than others.'
Moving forward, fans will cheer Duran or razz Duran as circumstances dictate. That's all later on. But he's got a collective attaboy coming his way at Fenway the next time he's at the plate. I haven't seen the Netflix doc on the Red Sox, and therefore can't judge its accuracy or artistry, but the title of that installment on Duran — 'Still Alive' — is something we can all cheer.
If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, call or text 988 for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741.