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It’s finally happening. One of the big storylines for this entire season was when exactly Jarren Duran was going to be up in the big leagues. The Red Sox outfield prospect, one of the top two or three in the organization at least, has been riding a helium balloon of hype since last summer when he started to show off a new swing to tap into his power more than ever before. That balloon ride has not slowed down since, and it’s been a question of if, not when, the Red Sox would call him up. We got the answer. He’ll be up Thursday in New York to take on the Yankees, according to a report from Joey McDonald.
Jarren Duran will not be in the lineup for the nightcap. In fact, he’s not in the building and is on his way to New York to join the Red Sox tomorrow and could make his major league debut against the Yankees.
— Joe McDonald (@JoeyMacHockey) July 14, 2021
Speculation around Duran started to build Wednesday afternoon when he was not in the lineup for the first game of Worcester’s doubleheader. However, he’s been dealing with some back issues of late and it made sense he might just get one half of the twin bill off. When he was out of the second lineup, however, it was clear something else was up. And McDonald’s report has been backed up by other reporters as well. Duran is being thrown right into the fire, making his debut in the Bronx.
The outfielder, as I said, has been making good on his hype since last summer. He was a standout at the Alternate Site last summer, and again over the winter in Puerto Rico, and yet again this spring at camp. That has not slowed down as the spring has turned to summer, and he’s off to a hot start at Worcester. At Triple-A, Duran is slashing .270/.365/.561 over 219 plate appearances to go with 15 homers. That’s a 38-homer pace over 550 plate appearances.
We’re going to have more on this call up tomorrow, but presumably it will come with Marwin Gonzalez hitting the injured list as the corresponding move. Gonzalez tweaked his hamstring in Sunday’s game, the second time he did so in the course of about a week. Duran should get plenty of playing time now as the team presumably did not call him up just to sit on the bench. That’s all we got for now, but we are very, very excited.