Jarren Duran made his season debut with the Red Sox on April 17, with Boston manager Alex Cora admitting the club had called the 26-year-old up to "mix-and-match" with its opponents over the following week or so.
What they got has been so much more, though.
Through four games, Duran is slashing .385/.412/.692 with four doubles, five RBIs and a stolen base. Though the strikeouts are still there, recording four in 13 at-bats, the contact being made is reminiscent of what Red Sox fans saw throughout the early days of spring training. So why didn't he make the team out of camp? Cora has a pretty good idea.
"He was hitting the ball well before he went to the (World Baseball Classic)," Cora said Thursday, as seen on NESN's pregame coverage. "The tournament helped some players, but it didn't help him. Let's be honest. He was driving the ball the other way. He was swinging at the right pitches and playing good baseball, playing good defense in left field."
So, what happened?
"Then he didn't play for a while and came back, and he was just behind at-bats-wise and repetitions-wise," Cora said. "The decision we made was for him to keep playing, obviously. If something happened he was going to be here. You can see the intent in his swing, and you can see it from batting practice. It's not the show he was putting (on) the last few years, hitting the ball in the air pull side. Now, he's driving the ball to left field, left center. So far, so good."
Duran's lack of playing time for Team Mexico was influential in what became a slump for the speedster following the tournament. That allowed Rob Refsnyder and Raimel Tapia to stake their claim as the fourth and fifth outfielders on Boston's roster to begin the season. Adam Duvall's hot start made it look like Duran could be without an opportunity for a while, but as is always the case, an injury eventually opened things up.
Duran took full advantage of that opportunity, and looks like the Red Sox's every day centerfielder moving forward.
Quite a far cry from the WBC.
