Chaim Bloom shares outlook on Jarren Duran, playing in the WBC and this season
Bloom spoke exclusively to Beyond the Monster about Jarren Duran on the Obstructed View Red Sox Podcast
This spring Red Sox outfielder Jarren Duran came into camp looking physically different, he got bigger but he also looked confident. Prior to going to play for Team Mexico, Duran was playing really good baseball.
His approach at the plate was different, Duran focused on hitting the ball opposite field. He had good quality at-bats and defensively looked better in the outfield.
Now back from playing with Mexico, Duran is in a unique position of trying to make the 26-man roster. While the odds seem like they’re stacked against him on breaking camp with Boston, chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom knows Duran will be a part of the Red Sox success this season.
“In some sense it’s a shame having gone to the WBC, he didn’t get to play a whole lot. But on the other hand, there’s so many benefits that we can’t even put our fingers on,” said Bloom to Beyond the Monster on the Obstructed View Red Sox Podcast.
“Just going in that environment, being in that environment, you see a lot of players talking about the WBC, one of the things that was cool was that.. nobody was really worried about anything within individual accomplishments.
“Somebody on Team Mexico said your at-bats belong to the country of Mexico… there’s going to be benefits to that, that we can’t really put our fingers on. [Duran] he was in a really good place before he left, I’m proud of him, he got a chance to do that… I give him a lot of credit for being so open, frankly publicly about some of what he went through last year,” added Bloom.
Over the last two seasons, Duran’s time with the Red Sox has had its ups and downs. He admittedly has said in the past he’s lost his confidence in being an outfielder. That confidence is back and Bloom knows it’s not always easy for players right off the bat to find success at the big league level.
“The fact of the matter is most players do not have this smooth ascension to the big leagues where they just show up and perform right away and never really go through these ruts. It feels like a lot of players just perform right away because those are the guys we think about. But the fact of the matter is a lot of good players, including really good players in Boston, championship players have gone through those ruts early in their careers. The question is how can we kind of help them get through that?
“I actually said this to Jarren last year, we don’t have to daydream on what [Jarren] Duran impacting Major League Baseball looks like. We did get to see that last year for a little bit. So we know what it looks like and then seeing the quality of his at-bats this spring, the approach and just how he’s carried himself, some of the work he did in the outfield last season with Will Venable and now carrying over he has a really good relationship with [Kyle Hudson] Huddy and their doing good work, there’s a lot there.”
Bloom’s complementary words on his young outfielder paints a picture of how the club views Duran and values him. Boston will help guide Duran to become the best player he can be with the Red Sox, it’s going to be up to him to seize every moment and opportunity presented in front of him.
“Obviously there’s a big lesson I think that we often have to learn and re-learn, all of us in this game that it’s not always linear. There’s that graph of what we think progress looks like and what it actually looks like.. it’s true for most players,” said Bloom. “It’s just hard for all of us who care so much to live the day to day, especially the player, now the question is how does that fit to getting him to that ceiling here in Boston?”
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He really isnt that good and he carries himself like he’s the shit