Boston Red Sox could look to Jarren Duran to play center field

Could Jarren Duran be the Red Sox answer in center field?

The Boston Red Sox could be looking in all the right places for their future center fielder. They could be looking in the wrong places as well. Chaim Bloom has been extremely discreet with who he does and does not have an interest in.

The fans all know that center field is a position that the Red Sox need to fill and not just rotate players in the position. Jackie Bradley Jr. has filled that void over the years and has done a decent job. Before Bradley, it was Jacoby Ellsbury and Coco Crisp. What do all of these players have in common? Speed, they all had speed and they were able to cover center field.

Since there are a few speedy options in the market right now, should the Red Sox look at the free agency market or should they look into their farm system? To the die-hard Sox fans, there has been one name that has been consistently brought up throughout the off-season. That player’s name is Jarren Duran.

Red Sox manager Alex Cora sat down with Rob Bradford recently to discuss Duran’s ability.  Cora talked very highly about Durran even though he states that his numbers are not there. Should fans be concerned with his numbers during winter ball? According to Cora, many players end up having issues during the winter play.

The speed is definitely there as you can see in the video shared by the PawSox below. During the season, Pawtucket was used as an alternate training site and Duran was one of the players that had a chance to play. In the video below, he hit an inside the park home run going around the bases in 15 seconds. That is approximately 24 feet per second which is rather fast, and speed is definitely needed for the outfield.

Is there a chance that the Red Sox will call up Duran during the 2021 season? According to Sox Prospects, they are estimating that he will be called up in late 2021. There could be other things that play into him inevitably being called up sooner. We do know that Bloom will not rush the idea of bringing Duran up.

Duran has the ability to get on base as well. Even though winter ball is a bit different than the majors, his on-base percentage is .388. With the speed that he possesses, there are plenty of chances for him to steal after getting on base.

As exciting as it may be and with as much noise that Duran is making, I believe a full year in Worcester would be beneficial. The reason I think this is because he’s still learning to play the outfield. Duran recently changed positions from second base to outfield back in August of 2018. Essentially, he’s only had one real year playing the position and should get a real year in Worcester.

We will have to wait and see if Bloom thinks that he is ready to hit the big leagues now or if the Sox will look at the free-agent market. Whatever his decision may end up being, we do know that Duran will be up soon.