Jarren Duran struck a positive tone Wednesday despite learning he officially would not be on the Red Sox Opening Day roster prior to Boston's Grapefruit League finale.
Duran acknowledged how developing his mental approach and becoming more comfortable with where his feet are, along with a message from Red Sox manager Alex Cora, were among the aspects to help him do so.
"He just (told me) 'Keep working, that's all you can do,'" Duran told NESN.com during Triple-A Worcester's media day. "He just told me to 'Keep working, don't let it get me down. Keep working.' And hope I'll be able to do something for the team eventually."
Duran, who hit .333 with a 1.207 OPS in eight spring training games, will start the season in Triple-A. Red Sox newcomer Raimel Tapia (.317 with .963 OPS in 16 spring training games) earned the final outfield spot.
Duran, though, still has the confidence of Cora. Cora told reporters Thursday prior to Boston's Opening Day against the Baltimore Orioles how he didn't believe Duran did anything wrong in spring training, but instead did a lot of things right.
"I know they want the best for me and they believe in me," Duran said of Cora and Boston's brass. "Hopefully I can show them that I can help them out in a certain way and when I get up there hopefully I can show them that."
Duran explained how there isn't one specific thing he wants to improve on, but rather all details of the game like baserunning, hitting and defense. Or as Duran put it, "just playing the game."
"Yeah, it's hard. Because it's baseball, it can be a real negative game," Duran said of being sent down. "But you just have to try and take the positive out of everything. So I'm just trying to stay positive. It happens, it's baseball and it's a business but I just have to keep working."
Duran will open his season with Triple-A Worcester on Friday afternoon, one day after the major league club opens its campaign. You can watch both games on NESN following their respective pregame ceremonies.
