FORT MYERS, Fla. — Last offseason, Jarren Duran was in Hawaii for a charity event with a teammate when his phone rang with a call from an unknown number.
Duran answered but hung up, not realizing on the other end was Kyle Hudson, who’d just been hired that winter as the Boston Red Sox’s new outfielders and base-running coach. Hudson was calling to introduce himself. Duran had no way of knowing at the time, but Hudson would become perhaps his most important ally, teacher and confidante during Duran’s breakout 2023 season.
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After that initial hang-up and then lack of a follow-up, Hudson finally connected with Duran, but didn’t waste an opportunity to razz him for the initial spurn, setting the tone for their relationship.
“I still give him crap and he gives it right back to me, we have that back-and-forth which is really good,” said Hudson, who also coached first base last year but will coach third base this season. “But when we go between the lines and talk about the baseball stuff he’s super eager to learn and eager to be the best every single day.”
That eagerness to learn from Hudson served Duran well last year to the tune of a .295 average, .828 OPS and 121 OPS+ over 102 games while making major strides defensively in the outfield before his season ended in late August with a broken toe after scaling a wall at Yankee Stadium.
Coming off a rough 2022 season and seemingly at a career crossroads after 91 big-league games across the previous two seasons, Duran didn’t make the Opening Day roster last spring. But when his next opportunity arose in the majors following Adam Duvall’s broken wrist in early April, Duran pounced and quickly became one of the most impactful players on the roster.
This spring is wholly different for Duran.
Despite a slow build-up after the toe surgery, Duran is not only a lock for a roster spot come Opening Day, but has been one of the club’s best offensive players this spring. He’ll see most of his playing time in center and left field as the Red Sox mix and match in their outfield. Manager Alex Cora has already said Duran will be his leadoff man.
Duran wouldn’t have been able to succeed last year without his own internal drive. He reset his mind entering 2023 by living with some of his best friends by the beach in southern California, something he also did this past winter. He’s learned to manage his mental health through the ups and downs of a professional baseball career. Throughout last season, Duran often pointed to Hudson’s dedication and mentorship as a key factor in helping him find the best version of himself.
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“He’s had a huge impact for me, just on the field, off the field, somebody I can talk to about everything,” Duran said.
Other coaches have undoubtedly been a part of Duran’s success. Hitting coach Pete Fatse and assistant hitting coach Ben Rosenthal, in particular, helped Duran unlock some of his offensive potential. But Hudson’s role as both a base-running and outfield coach, two key aspects of Duran’s game, created a unique relationship.
Even before arriving in Boston, while he was a member of the Cleveland coaching staff, Hudson had been aware of Duran’s raw tools, particularly his speed. Though he didn’t have a ton of time to work with Duran last spring training as Duran took part in the World Baseball Classic for Team Mexico, Hudson had dug into video and mapped out a game plan to maximize Duran’s potential, analyzing areas of his game he’d been under-utilizing.
Throughout the season, Hudson worked closely with Duran to refine aspects of his base running and defense that brought him to another level. Duran became more aggressive on both fronts.
The 27-year-old came up through the Red Sox’s system as a second baseman and was still learning the nuances of outfield play last year. He’d previously been too passive in calling off other outfielders, not trusting his instincts to get to the ball. It led to a notoriously brutal play in 2022 that resulted in an inside-the-park grand slam. Hudson drilled into him that, as the center fielder, Duran needed to take charge more often.
Duran also used feedback from Red Sox analysts who showed him data on some of the best outfielders in the game like Jackie Bradley, Jr., Kevin Pillar and Kevin Kiermaier. The data presented a common theme: The top outfielders didn’t always have the best route efficiency, but they had the best jumps. Duran, whose sprint speed ranks in the 96th percentile, learned to utilize that tool better.
“The elite outfielders have elite jumps, elite reactions, elite first three to four steps,” Hudson said. “A lot of the focus on what we’ve done with him, starting with the pre-pitch, is the reactions and getting going in a direction where the ball is at and being able to adjust.
In June, Duran made highlight reels with an over-the-shoulder catch on the run into the triangle at Fenway Park before bouncing off the short bullpen wall. It was a culmination of all his defensive efforts and he was thrilled to rewatch the video with Hudson once he got into the dugout.
“That one felt like an emotional play for me because it felt like everything I was trying to work on and craft came together in one play,” Duran said. “That’s probably the play that sticks out the most.”
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By the end of the season, Statcast ranked Duran fourth in baseball in outfield jumps. Despite below-average routes, he made up for them with a burst of speed and reaction time, trailing only Kiermaier, Johan Rojas and Kyle Isbel in the category.
“His ability to get comfortable taking his eyes off the ball, which we’ve discussed a lot and we’ve done a lot of work with, you’re starting to see that,” Hudson said. “He’s starting to take his eyes off the ball when he runs to it because he’s more confident in his reads.”
Meanwhile, Duran’s impact on the base paths gave the Red Sox’s offense an element of athleticism last year that it hadn’t had in years and is something they’re hoping to build around this season.
Duran routinely turned singles into doubles and pressured the pitcher with a threat to take off from first base, energizing the offense. But similar to his defense, Hudson has helped Duran get the most out of his speed, not just using his legs but his mind.
Part of it was studying pitcher tendencies and part of it was trusting his split-second decisions in the moment.
“Base stealing is a lot of confidence and if you’re scared or hesitant to take off and get thrown out then it’s going to be tough,” Duran said. “I used to be like that. I didn’t want to get thrown out because I had guys behind me that could drive me in, so if I steal and get thrown out and they hit a home run or ball in the gap, then I screw up their chance of getting an RBI. But Huddy just reinstated that’s your job, that’s your identity, you can steal bases, and he’s just giving me the confidence to go out there and believe in myself and do it.”
Duran is still learning. So much of the process is repetition, particularly with studying pitchers and then recognizing and reacting at game speed.
“You can show them on video all you want, then in the game, they can’t see it because it’s too quick and happens too fast — well, he’s starting to see some of those things,” Hudson said. “He’s still got a long way because he’s still stealing on pure speed but a lot of it is confidence.”
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At points last year whenever Duran got on first base, it was a clear distraction to the opposing pitcher and that’s something he’s planning to tap into even more this season.
“A lot of times, even though there’s a ton of focus, they can’t do anything about it which is pretty cool to see,” Hudson said. “Pitchers rush, less quality pitches are being thrown when there’s some focus on the guy on first. That’s what I tell these guys, it doesn’t matter if you steal the base or not, you do your job if you make this guy think about you, make this guy quicken up and he maybe leaves a pitch over the plate, you help that guy at the plate.”
Despite all of the work and improvement last season, it ended prematurely with the toe injury and while he was happy overall with the year, he knows he can take it to another level this season.
That’s why he showed up in camp two weeks before position players needed to report to stay on top of his rehab. He got his walking boot off in November and spent the winter building back up his leg strength. The confidence isn’t just internal anymore, he’s been sporting bleach-blonde hair and a bolder attitude to fit his style of play.
Still, he’s not taking his role for granted as he prepares for his first MLB Opening Day.
“We have so many weapons. It’s all up to them, wherever they want me,” Duran said. “I’m just going out there and doing the best I can wherever they want to put me. I know we have a bunch of dudes, anybody can play anywhere. So I’m just excited to see where we’re at.”
Either way, the work this season with Hudson will continue and helping Duran reach another level is at the top of the list.
“There are a lot of players in this league that don’t get the opportunity to come full circle like that,” Hudson said. “They might have a season like he did (in 2022) and may never get another opportunity again. He started out last year in Triple A with us and never wavered in his thoughts of, ‘Hey I’m going to continue to work to get better.’”
(Photo of Duran from this spring: Nathan Ray Seebeck / USA Today)
