Jarren “JD” Duran wasn’t worried.
Never mind a fastball from Cal State Fullerton’s John Gavin struck the right side of his face, rattling the bones in his cheek, during the third inning of a game in March. Never mind Duran lost vision for a minute, or that he couldn’t feel much of anything – the pain too acute to acknowledge.
Long Beach State coach Troy Buckley took one look at his sophomore second baseman, his lead-off hitter, and said, “You’re done.”
“Why?” Duran said in protest. “I’m good.”
The 6-foot-2 Buena Park native and Cypress High alum wasn’t “good,” and he was forced to go to the hospital a few minutes later. Two bones in his face were broken.
But the next week? Duran was back on the field—mask on, fears gone.
“That’s just who Jarren is,” said Octavio Duran, his father. “He’s not going to let anything get in his way.”
That wouldn’t be the only piece of adversity thrown Duran’s way, whose speed and strength has helped propel the No. 8 Dirtbags (37-17-1) to NCAA Regionals. The team will host San Diego State Friday at 8 p.m.
“Baseball? For me?” Duran said, breaking out a smile while sitting on a bench at Blair Field after a recent practice. “It’s life. It’s hard. Not everything is handed to you. It’s like one moment it loves you and the next minute it hates you. You gotta just keep working at it.”
Proving himself
Duran, who leads the Dirtbags in stolen bases (15) and sacrifice bunts (11), while also collecting 56 hits, 42 runs scored and 21 RBI over 50 starts, said he wasn’t sure if he could make it at Long Beach at first.
He started 55 games as a freshman last season, but like any rookie, he sometimes struggled. He was out of his comfort zone, bunting more in his first few weeks than he probably had his entire life. He had offensive spells. He had 14 errors. The defensive side of the ball felt fast to him.
He felt like he was letting his teammates down, and that, to Duran, was worse than anything else.
Can I play at this level? Am I good enough? The doubts swirled through his mind, as did the word “failure,” a seven-letter word no baseball player is immune to. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t sting when it bites you.
Duran worked and worked, hitting extra after practice, but the gap between the expectations he had for himself and the execution of those expectations weighed heavy.
He resolved to do what he had done his entire life: prove himself.
His freshman year at Cypress, he stood just 5-foot-4. The next year, 5-5. “I had to work twice as hard,” said Duran, who sprouted to 6 feet the year after.
He didn’t play for a top travel squad. A back injury sidelined him for most of his junior year. He fought his way into the Cypress lineup heading into his senior year. But despite being an All-Empire League selection and member of the North All-Star Team as a .410 hitter in league, he had zero college scholarship offers.
He was a late bloomer who just needed the right opportunity to flourish.
“He wasn’t one of those highly touted kids,” said John Weber, Cypress coach. “So many times these kids get these scholarships and they’re so comfortable because everyone’s after them. They lose their edge. JD, being a kid that wasn’t that guy, he always had to persevere.”
Weber set up a meeting with Buckley at Long Beach. Duran didn’t want to go. Not because he didn’t want to play for the program, but because, Weber believes, he was nervous he wasn’t good enough.
Duran went to the meeting and eventually joined the team. He liked that the Dirtbags prided themselves on grit. That’s all Duran wanted: a chance to earn his keep.
Breaking through
Duran craved consistency.
His freshman season at Long Beach, despite batting .272 with 34 runs, 17 RBI and 13 stolen bases, motivated him to become mentally stronger.
That year, he studied Garrett Hampson, the team’s star short stop. Hampson, then a junior and now a pro ballplayer, never seemed to stumble, as if he was constantly walking a tightrope without wobbling no matter how unstable the rope.
Taking Duran under his wing, Hampson morphed into a mentor, inspiring the rookie to keep his head up, keep his ears open and keep his mouth shut.
“He’s extremely competitive and that’s what you need to have,” Hampson said, “because if you’re messing up and you’re not good at something and it doesn’t tick you off, and it doesn’t bother you, then something is wrong.”
“It definitely bothers JD when he fails or does something wrong, and it’s because he cares,” Hampson said. “He cares about the team. He cares about winning. He did whatever he was asked to do to make the team better.”
This season, Duran came in with more confidence, more resolve. Helping Long Beach win its first Big West crown since 2008, Duran was named second team All-Big West after finishing second in the conference in stolen bases (15), fourth in runs scored (42) while also hitting .292.
“He’s made huge strides, huge strides in his game,” Buckley said. “But I also think just in his security as a person, JD has really, really grown up here to be a more mature player and a more mature person.”
But JD wouldn’t be JD if he was satisfied.
“I still have that mentality inside me, that I’m the smallest player on the field, that I’ve got to work the hardest,” Duran said. “Nobody’s going to out-work me.”
