Jarren Duran Makes Record Breaking History

Courtesy of Boston Globe

Just five days into the MLB season, Red Sox speedy outfielder Jarren Duran made team history. Duran was the first player to seal five bases in the first five games of an MLB season. He stole two bases in the team's opening four game series against the Seattle Mariners and then stole three more in as many innings to open up the second series against the Oakland Athletics.

Duran joined some pretty impressive company when he had tied the record of four stolen bases in five games. These players included Otis Nixon (1994), Jerry Remy (1978), Johnny Watwood (1932), Harry Hooper (1920), Tris Speaker (1915), Harry Lord (1909), and Tommy Dowd (1901). But with the fifth base, Duran stands alone at five bases in five games. During that series, Duran also became the first Red Sox player since Roy Johnson in 1934 to have a single game with three or more hits, three or more stolen bases, two or more runs scored, and at least one RBI.

To many Red Sox fans, these stats, while still very impressive, come as no surprise. Duran’s lightning quick speed has been turning heads since he made his major league debut back in 2021. Within his first month in the big leagues, Duran hit what could have been an inside the park homerun; it ended up being scored officially as a triple and an error, but his hustle all the way around the bases caught fans’ attention and showed the potential impact Duran could have in the big leagues.

Despite some struggles and being optioned up and down between the Red Sox AAA team and the big leagues in 2022, Duran was called back up to Boston in April of 2023. The adjustments that he made before the season had  paid off; his bat caught fire and he began to make an immediate impact, and he never looked back.

Through 102 games in 2023 Jarren hit an impressive 34 doubles, many of which would have been singles for most other players, but Duran hustled his way to second base with his impressive speed. He also swiped 24 bags in that window. Whenever he got on base, it was only a matter of time before he was off to the races to steal. Even when Duran wasn’t looking to steal a base, he was always such a threat to run.

Possibly one of the biggest highlights of his impressive 2023 season was in July when Duran went five for five with four doubles against the Toronto Blue Jays. This game was one for the record books for Jarren as he became just the eighth Red Sox player to hit four doubles in a single game, which has only been done 50 times in all of MLB since 1901. Some of these hits were just another showcase of his speed, athleticism, and ability to stretch singles into doubles. After all of this success in 2023, Jarren’s season was cut short in August after he suffered a tear in his flexor tendon in his toe.

In just the short amount of games played so far in the 2024 season, it’s clear that Duran is not only fully recovered from his toe injury. But, he is also building off of his impressive 2023 season and is going to continue to be a menace on the basepaths this season.

Edited by Giana Robertaccio

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