Jarren Duran has shown improvement in his performance, driving in seven runs and hitting four extra-base hits since May began. The Red Sox are looking for continued progress after a mixed start to the season.
Key points
Jarren Duran has driven in seven runs since May started
Duran has four extra-base hits, including three homers
The Red Sox have a record below .500 this season
Duran's OPS improved to .860 over the last week
Duran's early struggles were linked to a high ground ball rate
Mentioned in this story
Fenway Park
Boston Red SoxSan Diego PadresTampa Bay Rays
Boston, MA - April 3: Boston Red Sox outfielders Wilyer Abreu, Ceddanne Rafaela and Jarren Duran hug after the game. The Red Sox played the San Diego Padres at Fenway Park on April 3, 2026. (Photo by Danielle Parhizkaran/The Boston Globe via Getty Images) | Boston Globe via Getty Images
Boston, MA - April 3: Boston Red Sox outfielders Wilyer Abreu, Ceddanne Rafaela and Jarren Duran hug after the game. The Red Sox played the San Diego Padres at Fenway Park on April 3, 2026. (Photo by Danielle Parhizkaran/The Boston Globe via Getty Images) | Boston Globe via Getty Images
Well I guess that was technically better?
Maybe the very nature of an awful start makes the pickings pretty slim, but we gotta take whatever we can get at this point, right? Dropping the set to Tampa obviously stings, but that was still a 4-2 record this week. ThatâsâŠâŠâŠâŠâŠ..improvement, I suppose.
Even if the bar for that quality has been in hell, there were still some positive takeaways since the last time I dipped the pen for OTM. Brayan Bello got roasted in last weekâs edition of the MMBB, and he then proceeded to have a great bounce-back outing in Detroit. The bats strung together a couple of real nice performances en route to that sweep of the Tigers. There were other encouraging signs from specific guys, tooâstuff that weâll get into momentarily.
Of course, one fine week doesnât change how underwhelming things have gone this season after more than a month of sub-.500 ball. We could very well be back here in a weekâs time after the bats go quiet again. The starting rotation could go back to stifling by failing to go through five or six innings on multiple occasions. Who knows? Maybe this past week was just a quick reprieve from the horrors of 2026 before we return to our regularly scheduled failures.
But if the Sox are gonna turn things around this year, maybe we could look at May as a sort of turning point if they can keep the (relatively speaking, of course) positive mojo going, even after dropping that series at Fenway over the weekend. The journey of 1,000 miles begins with a single step. All of this is to say that gets an invite on the duck boats if we do the improbable, as a thank you for uniting the guys the other night.
Either that or I keep finding new ways to start these articles by saying the team sucks. I dunno. I guess weâll find out together.
Itâs Monday Morning Brushback time, yâall.
Q&A
What improvements has Jarren Duran made in May 2026?
In May 2026, Jarren Duran has driven in seven runs and hit four extra-base hits, including three home runs.
How has Jarren Duran's batting performance changed this season?
Duran's batting performance improved significantly, with his OPS rising from a low point in April to .860 over the last week.
What are the Boston Red Sox's current standings in the 2026 season?
The Boston Red Sox have struggled with a record below .500 for more than a month, but they recently achieved a 4-2 record in a week.
What factors contributed to Jarren Duran's early struggles at the plate?
Duran's early struggles were due to a high ground ball rate and a lack of fly balls and line drives, which affected his offensive production.
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Outfielder Jarren Duran deserves a tip of the cap for the tweaks heâs been making at the plate. Since the calendar turned to May, number 16 has driven in seven runs and knocked four extra-base hits, including three homers. Over the last seven days, his triple slash reads .269/.321/.538 for an .860 OPS. Not too bad for a guy whoâs OPS began with a four by Aprilâs end.
Itâs no secret that Duranâs first few weeks at the plate this year were capital B-Bad. If you thought to yourself at any point in late March or April, âWow, Jarren just hasnât been lifting the ball a ton this year,â then your eyes werenât deceiving you. Leading up to Sundayâs finale against the Rays, Jarrenâs ground ball rate stood at exactly 50%, considerably higher than the 41.5% mark he had in 2025 and still above his 46.8% rate in his excellent 2024 campaign. With that in mind, it should come as no surprise that his fly ball and line drive rates had fallen from around 25% last year down to around 22% and 17% respectively prior to yesterdayâs game.
Now, Iâm not smart enough to tell you exactly *why* he wasnât able to drive the ball at the start of the season (donât be a smart ass in the comments by saying that I shouldâve just stopped that sentence after the first five words), but that mixed with the strikeouts and lack of walks is a recipe for disaster. I did mention on a recent episode of Pod On Lansdowne that some more slugging could be seen out of him if he could just start lifting the ball more. His bat speed and the rest of his physical profile has looked fine, he wasnât itâs just that the approach had been all wrong.
Iâm not sure what changedâmaybe it was the leg kick or the tweaks to the batting stance, maybe heâs just gotten hotâbut lo and behold: Duran has started to produce more on offense after seeing more batted balls in the air. Just take a look at the rolling xwOBA chart courtesy of Savant, referencing his last 100 plate appearances prior to Sunday:
Is that where we truly need Duranâs production to be? No, of course not. His OPS+ is still 66 (so I guess he hasnât been *executing orders* at a good enough of a clip) But the bat is coming around a bit, and like I said at the beginning: we gotta take what we can get.
Duranâs little turnaround could be a microcosm for the offense at large. The teamâs hard hit rate has consistently been with the top third or half of the league in 2026, but their average launch angle of just under 12% is within the bottom five across MLB.
Simply put: they were only doing one of the two key pillars of the Ted Williams philosophy.
So, perhaps Duran can be representative of a sea change within Bostonâs lineup. Itâs something to monitor, at the very least. Letâs start seeing some more liners and fly balls, please.
(Donât) Walk This Way
It was a tale of two starts for the Piglet this week, as top pitching prospect Payton Tolle hurled one gem against the Motor City Kitties before tossing oneâŠâŠwell, not a gem against the Devil Rays. One outing to remind you of the type of ceiling this dude has, another to leave us with a bit of a bad taste in our mouth heading into the new week and todayâs idle spot on the schedule.
Yet in both of those starts, one thing remained consistent: Tolle limited the free passes. In 12 innings of work over the past week, the lefty only issued one walk. Itâs a continuation of a positive trend, as Tolleâs walk rate of 9% this year is right around league average (God, is this the Brushback where I just hype up league average metrics?). Thatâs better than the walk rate of nearly 11% he had last year, as he walked eight batters in 16.1 innings.
Now, are both of those sample sizes really small? Yeah. Could that thus make trying to deduce anything from them a useless endeavor? Maybe.
However, consider that Tolleâs command looks to be more sharp while heâs introducing more of his secondaries into his arsenal (1-0 West Ham; it was very obviously a foul on Raya, cry more). The sinker of his is being deployed about a quarter of the time nowadays compared to the 10% usage rate it had in his cup of coffee in 2025. His cutter and curveball usage in 2026 also keeps guys honest outside of his primary, dynamite four-seam fastball. Itâs four pitches batters really have to consider seeing when they step into the box to face Tolle, but the 23-year-old is making that approach even more difficult for the opposition by not letting them off the hook with walks.
The development of secondary pitches (albeit two of them are different types of fastballs) was the major question markâand maybe thatâs even being a bit harshâfor Tolle entering this season in my book. So far, so good on that front (even after Sundayâs rough outing). We all know the strikeout upside he presents is out of this world. We know his stuff is insane, and we know heâs got the makeup of a starter who could be slotted into the top half of the rotation down the line if things go right. If the command is coming around to even a league-average level with that raw stuff, the Piglet could be unlocking even more parts of his game.
Color me intrigued.
A Word on Injuries
A very quick word on some injury developments to wrap things up because itâs late when Iâm writing this and Iâm exhausted. To quote Homer Simpson after he ate 64 slices of American cheese, I think Iâm blind.
First: Justin Slaten is back! Thatâs good! The bullpen could certainly use some reinforcements, especially in the back half of games. The 28-year-old has, by and large, displayed impressive stuff on the hill when pitching in relief since making his debut with the Sox in 2024. Considering some of the duds weâve seen from the arm barn recentlyâIâm looking at Weissert, Watson, and Kelly specificallyâSlatenâs return after a roughly month-long absence is absolutely a welcome sign. If the path forward is defense and run prevention, we need all hands on deck.
Second: Willson Contrerasâ X-rays were negative after he got hit on the hand with a pitch on Sunday, according to the Boston Globe. A lengthy WC40 absence couldâve been devastating for both the lineup along with the infield defense, but it doesnât sound like weâre in a worst-case scenario here as I write this. Then again: I guess it didnât seem like Roman Anthony would be placed on the IL after he had a wrist issue of his own last week in Detroit, though his return is expected to be imminent.
The last thing Boston needs is a case of the injury bug making its way through the clubhouse. Fingers are firmly crossed.
Song of the Week: âBreezinââ by George Benson
Could listen to this for an hour straight, man.
Sme time and same place next week, friends! Go Sox.