As Jarren Duran finishes stellar July (1.094 OPS), Red Sox have ‘freed him up' do even more

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5 days ago

MINNEAPOLIS — Jarren Duran's first three months were a disappointment, as he hit just .253 with a .723 OPS. In July, though, he outperformed a breakout 2024 season in which he was named All-Star Game MVP and garnered American League MVP votes.
Duran capped off an excellent month Wednesday when he went 3-for-5 with a double, homer and four RBIs in the Red Sox' 13-1 win over the Twins at Target Field. He finished July having hit .317 with five homers, three triples, five doubles, 21 RBIs and a 1.094 OPS in 26 games — and the Red Sox hope a lineup change will help unlock him further in the season's final two months.
'He has been good the whole month,' said manager Alex Cora. 'You look at his numbers: the walks, driving the ball, playing good defense in center and left field, running the bases. He's one of the most dynamic players in the big leagues and I'm glad he's playing for us.'
Duran drove in five runs in all of June, hitting .210 with a .701 OPS after a poor May (.697 OPS). But a homer on June 30 against the Reds set the tone for a July that was perhaps the best month of his career and catalyzed a Red Sox team that led baseball with a 17-7 record in the month.
Duran likely won't be traded before Thursday's trade deadline but that doesn't mean he hasn't experienced a good bit of upheaval in the last few weeks. Starting mid-June, Cora started using other leadoff hitters — like Rob Refsnyder, Nate Eaton and Romy Gonzalez — against left-handed pitchers, dropping Duran lower in the lineup. Duran was also impacted by the roster crunch in the wake of Roman Anthony's call-up and Masataka Yoshida's return, sitting twice in four days (July 19 and 22) and serving as the designated hitter once (June 21). Marcelo Mayer's wrist injury forced Ceddanne Rafaela to play more second base and Duran, who had exclusively played left field for two-plus months, to shift to center, where he has now logged eight starts since July 9. And over the weekend, Cora threw another wrinkle into the mix when Duran, the leadoff man against righties for the last two seasons, was shifted to the third spot in the order with Anthony hitting first.
Through four games, the results have been fantastic for Boston. Duran is 7-for-17 (.412) with two homers, three doubles, five RBIs and two walks. Anthony has turned into even more of an on-base machine, reaching base in 11 of 19 at-bats since he started leading off.
'I led off, I think, every game I ever played in the minor leagues,' said Anthony, who was 2-for-5 with a double and walk Wednesday. 'I know the routine that goes into it. As the leadoff guy, my job is to find my way on base and I think I've been doing a pretty good job of that. It's easy when we're putting up the amount of runs we're putting up and we have the guys behind me.'
Duran, who had never hit third in his career before Sunday, said he can fine-tune his approach a bit more by seeing the starting pitcher face another left-handed hitter (Anthony) in the first inning before he gets to the plate. So far, so good.
'I think we saw these last few days what it's allowed him to do. It has freed him up,' Anthony said. 'I'm just trying to get on base for him and the guys behind me. When you do that and set the tone as the leadoff guy, you give a guy like Jarren who's so damn good the ability to drive in runs, free up and not have to think about it.'
After mixing and matching with different combinations throughout the season, Cora feels like he has settled on a perfect 1-2-3 punch of Anthony, Alex Bregman and Duran at the top of his lineup against right-handers.
'Jarren hitting third is going to work,' Cora said. 'It's working right now. We're giving him the freedom to do whatever he wants in that spot. Obviously, Alex is going to control the at-bat. The first two at-bats are going to be very tough for the opposition.'
Even without Bregman on Wednesday, Boston was able to pound the Twins' pitching staff (which included position player Kody Clemens) with 13 runs and 16 hits.
'The guys did an amazing job offensively,' said Cora. 'We've got to give them credit.'
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Read the original article on MassLive.