Jarren Duran was in the midst of a breakout season for the Boston Red Sox in 2023 when he suffered a toe injury that ultimately ended his year prematurely.
Heading into spring training, Duran admitted he wasn’t taking “anything for granted” ahead of the Red Sox season and planned on working hard to earn a spot on the roster.
Even with the confidence of Red Sox manager Alex Cora, the speedy outfielder hopes the fans in Boston feel the same, according to MassLive’s Christopher Smith.
“I think they did. I hope they did,” Duran told Smith. “I don’t know. I’m just hard on myself so I never think that people like me. So, I just always try to keep my head down.”
Duran added: “But it’s always nice when they are cheering for me and stuff like that. And I love that. I hope they know I’m working my butt off every single day for them. It’s for them. It’s for the city. It’s for the team. It’s for my boys. And I’m just working every day as hard as I possibly can for everybody and for all of them. I just hope they know that.”
Duran’s 2023 season came to an abrupt halt when he scaled the left-field wall on a home run by Yankees’ Gleyber Torres on Aug. 20 and suffered a left toe contusion, that required surgery. Duran hopes no one criticizes him for attempting to make the play.
“If you’re going to criticize me for that, you’ve got nothing better to do than nitpick everything,” he told Smith. “But they didn’t see it from my shoes that the way he swung, he didn’t look like he got it.”
The 27-year-old compared the play to an Aaron Judge hit he almost snagged.
“It was hit the exact same way. The same flight. It looked the same, felt the same,” he said.
“You know how many times I’ve climbed up a way trying to reach for a ball like that? And it just happens one time. It’s just a freak accident,” Duran recalled. “I played almost the rest of the game until I just couldn’t physically swing anymore. So, I was willing to risk my toe to play. … So, if you want to critique me for making a dumb mistake like that, I guess you’ve never played in that adrenaline rush.”
Duran is coming off a season where he slashed .295/.346/.482 with 98 hits, 34 doubles, and eight home runs, to go along with the 24 stolen bases at the time of his injury. If he can remain healthy, Duran is projected to hit .272 with 52 extra-base hits in 2024, according to Rotowire
