How Red Sox outfielder Jarren Duran is dealing with self-imposed pressure to live up to last year's All-Star season

Boston Globe

7 days ago

And yet Duran's season doesn't exist in isolation. It's taking place in the shadow of his remarkable 2024 performance, during which he hit .285/.342/.492 with 83 extra-base hits and 34 steals, a dynamo who won All-Star MVP honors and finished eighth in American League MVP voting.
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Often this year, Duran has been minding that gap.
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'It's kind of hard to not look at last year, because all the negative stuff I see is that I suck and I'm not what I was last year,' said Duran. 'Everybody loves to talk about it, but at the same time it's like, I don't think these people realize how hard it is to be an All-Star Game MVP every single night. It's just not humanly possible. This game is a game of failure. You fail more than you succeed. [But] knowing myself, I always see all the negative stuff.
'I think this whole year has just kind of been like one big blur of not being able to be comfortable and trust myself. Sometimes I trust myself, and then two seconds later I don't. So I feel like this whole year has just been me fighting my own self.'
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Baseball isn't a high jump. You don't set one personal standard, raise the bar, then diligently work toward the next one. A 162-game season is defined largely by the baseline standards that players can establish, rather than their peaks.
And yet Duran always measures success based on his pinnacle.
'It's just how I am. I mean, honestly, when I won the All-Star Game MVP last year, I was happy about it, but at the same time, I was like, 'Well, crap. I'm going to have to put this pressure on myself to be this player every single night,' ' he said. 'As dumb as it sounds, I was like, 'Oh, [expletive].' I'm just putting more pressure on my own self, like, 'I've done this. Now I expect myself to do this every night.' '
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But recently, Duran has been a bit more forgiving of his performance, a development with two sources.
First, he looks like he's turned a corner. His line sat at .252/.310/.398 on June 28. But in
Duran is less concerned about those numbers than the approach that underlies them. He's cut his chase rate from 33 percent to 24 percent during his recent run — and even sees a positive in the fact that 25 percent of his strikeouts have been called during this run, a contrast to the beginning of the season in which just 11 percent of his strikeouts had been looking.
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Why is that meaningful?
'It means I'm controlling the zone better,' said Duran. 'Pitchers are way too good these days to chase them around the entire plate. So, if I'm trying to get them in a specific area and they just happen to paint something that's not in the area that I'm looking, you've got to tip your cap.
'Nobody wants to strike out, but I'm trying to keep the positive mind-set, even after a strikeout. It was, 'OK, he made a great pitch away. I wasn't looking away. I was still staying in my area. I was staying [true] to where I thought I could do damage and get an actual competitive pitch to hit.' '
The other reason why Duran is more at ease than he'd been for much of the season: the changing dynamics of the Red Sox. Duran has found joy in the arrivals of Roman Anthony and Marcelo Mayer. He's been happy to share his experiences about finding his footing in the big leagues with the rookies, but in many ways, Duran has taken reassurance from players who are 21 (Anthony) and 22 (Mayer).
'The young guys are just like, 'I'm just going to go out there and just do me and have fun.' It's kind of cool. I see the younger guys, and I'm like, 'Shoot, maybe I should think about it like that,' ' said Duran. 'They're just two of the best people I've ever met, and I can't imagine not having them on my team, or just being able to talk to them every day.'
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There is at least the hint of a question about whether that opportunity will remain in place. Earlier this month, the outfield/DH crowd of Duran, Anthony, Wilyer Abreu,
Even so, until Thursday's trade deadline passes, there will at least be curiosity about whether Duran might move. But with the Sox having pushed into wild-card position, Duran does not share it.
'Honestly, that's probably one of the things I actually don't stress about,' he said. 'I have no control over it. If it happens, it happens … It's just all rumors for now, so I'm just going to keep having fun with my boys.'
Alex Speier can be reached at