The Boston Red Sox have been a team of high variance this season.
They’ve looked really good at times, and they’ve looked bad on occasion. Still, it’s hard to argue with the overall results, as the Red Sox entered the week having won eight of their last nine games to improve their record to 21-15.
That in itself is good news for Boston, a club surrounded by tempered outside expectations ahead of the 2023 campaign. But ESPN’s Bradford Doolittle on Tuesday pinpointed the “best news” of the Red Sox’s season so far.
Here’s what Doolittle wrote:
No team has roller-coasted through the start of the season more than Boston, and as the first in-season Stock Watch goes to press, the Red Sox have climbed to their highest level of the campaign. Things have changed fast and for the better. The most exciting part of this has been the play of Jarren Duran, whose first two partial seasons in the majors did not go well. Since being promoted April 17, Duran has hit over .380 with elite exit velocities and improving plate discipline indicators. He’s doing damage on the bases and his defensive metrics have been positive. And not for nothing: Boston has gone 12-5 with Duran in the lineup.
The Red Sox ranked 12th in Doolittle’s “Stock Watch” piece, which highlighted the “best news” for all 30 Major League Baseball teams. That ranking — based on the average number of wins after ESPN ran 10,000 simulations for the remainder of the regular season and the postseason, taking into account “season-to-date performance” and “forward-looking projections of each team’s roster” — placed Boston one spot behind the Baltimore Orioles and one spot ahead of the Chicago Cubs.
There are several Boston bright spots Doolittle theoretically could have emphasized — like Masataka Yoshida’s recent hot stretch, Alex Verdugo’s dynamic contributions or the emergence of Kutter Crawford and Josh Winckowski in the Red Sox’s bullpen. But Duran’s breakout is truly impressive, especially since he didn’t crack the Opening Day roster after struggling in his first taste of the majors in 2021 and 2022.
Duran, 26, entered Wednesday — one day after a 9-3 loss to the Atlanta Braves — slashing .360/.405/.587 with two home runs, 13 RBIs and five stolen bases in 21 games (84 plate appearances).
