When Jarren Duran was beating up Triple A pitching at Worcester earlier this season -- hitting rockets over the wall and speeding around the bases at will -- there was an outcry among the fan base and some in the media: What were the Red Sox waiting for? Why wasn't Duran with the parent club?
On Tuesday, when Duran was optioned back to Worcester, those voices were conspicuous by their absence. Perhaps, having watched Duran struggle at the big league level, it finally dawned on them that the leap from Triple A to the major leagues is still a sizable one.
All of which is not to demean Duran, who did all the right things while with the Red Sox for the last six or so weeks. Duran worked at getting better, took instruction well and comported himself well.
It's not his fault that transitioning to the big leagues proved to be too much at this point in his career. Nor does it suggest that Duran is some sort of bust whom the Red Sox badly overrated.
Chances are, Duran will be back relatively quickly, perhaps as soon as next week when major league rosters expand. Down the stretch, he can still serve as a useful depth piece off the bench, available to come into a game to steal a base, or fill in in the outfield as a late-inning defensive replacement.
But Duran's inability to make much of an impact at first blush is a cautionary tale: even the best, most athletic prospects, are not guaranteed stardom right away.
"He's not the first promising rookie to be sent down,'' said Cora. "He's not the first promising rookie to get sent down in this organization. And he's not the outfielder who's very fast who got sent down in the middle of the season.''
Without mentioning him by name, Cora was subtly referencing Jacoby Ellsbury in 2007, when Cora was a utility infielder -- and not the manager -- for the Sox. Ellsbury was summoned to the big leagues in late June before being returned a week later to Pawtucket. When he returned in September, it didn't take long for him to supplant Coco Crisp as the team's starting center fielder. Ellsbury would go on to shine that October in his first introduction to the postseason.
It was Duran's misfortune to come to the parent club at a time when the Sox faced an inordinate amount of lefties, against whom the Sox did not want him exposed. Meanwhile, the arrival of Kyle Schwarber at the trade deadline further complicated things. With the Sox attempting to shoehorn Schwarber into the lineup, left field was an obvious intermediary stop before eventually settling at first base — and with Schwarber dislodging Alex Verdugo in left, that meant the Sox had their choice of sparkplug Verdugo or the untested Duran in center.
When Duran did get the chance to be in the starting lineup like Michael Chavis before him, he showed a weakness against fastballs up in the strike zone, which he was prone to chase. Naturally, word traveled quickly and Duran soon saw a steady diet of fastballs at the top of, or above, the strike zone.
It will be incumbent upon him to wean himself off such pitches. But that's not all Duran needs for improvement. He's still a work in progress when it comes to his outfield routes, having just moved there in 2019. And given his speed, the Sox would like to see him utilize the bunt more, to keep opposing defenses honest.
"Obviously, it's not easy to come up here,'' said Cora. "It's a lot harder because of the lack of repetitions last year (with no minor league season). But we still like him, the same way we liked him when we called him up....It's something that sometimes players have to go through. This is a hard level. There's growing pains. It's not easy to just come here and produce, and obviously, where we're at roster-wise, it made sense to go down there and get some at-bats.
"There's a balance. We're trying to do everything possible to win here. But at the same time, if he's not going to get at-bats, I think the best thing for him is to get at-bats down there and keep working on the things that he was working on here. He'll be OK. I can't make any promises that he'll be here in 10 days, or 15 days, whatever. But one thing's for sure, he's part of the future.''
