Jarren Duran is making sure the hype surrounding the Red Sox prospect remains sky-high.
Duran, the top outfield prospect in Boston's system, homered twice Tuesday night for the Triple-A Worcester Red Sox. The 24-year-old now has 15 homers in his first full professional season since overhauling his left-handed swing.
(You can click here to watch the second homer, which was an opposite-field blast.)
Duran was somewhat boom-or-bust over the first month of the campaign but has been excellent since returning from the Olympic qualifying tournament on June 8. Over his last 15 games, he's hitting .333 with seven homers and a .408 on-base percentage.
He also has -- somewhat -- cut down on the strikeouts. In his first 18 games, Duran struck out 21 times in 82 plate appearances, whereas the next 19 games saw him strike out 21 times in 98 plate appearances.
His 23.3 strikeout percentage isn't ideal, but it is down from the 25.5 percent he was posting June 13.
As for when Duran will be promoted to the big leagues, your guess is as good as ours. His offense appears ready, but his defense needs work and the 40-man roster shuffling required to enable his promotion can't be overlooked. Red Sox manager Alex Cora hasn't offered any clues as to when Duran could ascend to Fenway Park.
Nevertheless, it's easy for Red Sox fans to get excited about a player who might be the organization's center fielder of the future.
