The injury to Trevor Story has sure put the Boston Red Sox in a pickle.
Mainly up the middle of the diamond with the Red Sox needing to find replacements as they are now without their starters at shortstop and second base from last season.
Utility man Christian Arroyo could cover up the hole at second base with Story on the shelf while the Red Sox in theory could move Kiké Hernández from center field to shortstop, where he has experience playing in the big leagues including 10 appearances at the all-important position last year.
But that still leaves a spot open in the outfield and the Red Sox threw out the idea Wednesday at Rafael Devers’ press conference that they could turn toward Jarren Duran, who is coming off a much-maligned campaign, to help fill the void.
“We haven’t talked about Jarren for a while,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora told reporters, per The Boston Globe’s Julian McWilliams. “But I think where we are at it would be good for him to step up and play good baseball and be the player that we envisioned him being a few years ago.”
Duran showed brief flashes of his skillset during his second season in the big leagues, but largely struggled in 2022. The 2018 seventh-round draft pick of the Red Sox batted .221 with three home runs and 17 RBIs to go along with seven steals in 58 games.
Duran’s play in the field surely wasn’t any better, which included an embarrassing mishap when the Toronto Blue Jays put up 28 runs on the Red Sox at Fenway Park.
But with spring training just over a month away, the Red Sox might not have any other option than to give the 26-year-old Duran yet another opportunity to prove himself.
“He’s still dynamic, still young, still learning,” Cora said, per The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier.
