Red Sox coach Kyle Hudson on building a relationship with Jarren Duran: ‘I care about you as a person, and I care about you being the best that you can be’
Red Sox coach Kyle Hudson went on the Fenway Rundown podcast with Sean McAdam and Chris Cotillo and talked about his relationship with Jarren Duran
Jarren Duran is off to a great start again this season, leading off for the Red Sox and playing a strong center field and left field.
A big reason for Duran’s success can be attributed to his outfield coach, Kyle Hudson. Despite Duran and Hudson having a strong relationship, it didn’t start out that way.
“You know, that actually got out to a rocky start with JD. You know, I tried to reached out to him; I tried to call him; he actually answered the phone, and then he hung up,” Hudson said on a recent appearance on MassLive’s Fenway Rundown podcast. “And then I texted him, and he never texted me back; he told me he was going to call me and call me back. So we actually got out to a little bit of a rocky start.”
Once the two spoke and worked together on and off the field, something clicked with Duran.
“I think once he got the chance to have some conversations with me and understand, like, I'm developing these relationships because I care about you as a person, and I care about you being the best that you can be. I think you kind of get into those trust circles, right? And it's not only with him; you know, I try to do.
“I do that with every guy that I've ever had as a coach, whether it was in college or when I got to professional baseball in the minor leagues or at the major league level as well. So for me, it's just, you know, I need to make sure that these guys understand that I really care “about them as people first. And that I care about, you know, did I have their best interests in mind?
“And that's all I want. I want these guys to be better players than they ever imagined that they could be. And that's always my goal,” said Hudson.
Prior to last season, Duran’s big league career was rocky, which is putting it nicely. The speedy outfielder struggled in two separate stints in the majors in both 2021 and 2022. His 2022 season was overshadowed by him losing a baseball in the lights on July 22, and the Blue Jays hit an inside-the-park grand slam. Duran had another fielding issue in a series while the Red Sox were in Kansas City.
The electric outfielder failed to make the Red Sox Opening Day roster last season. He began the year in Triple-A Worcester. In 11 games, he hit .195 with two homers and six RBI but was called up due to the Adam Duvall injury last May, and he has been a regular on the roster since.
Hudson has been a huge part of Duran’s success in making him a better player on the field, especially in the outfield. The California native is emerging as a top outfielder in the American League.
“When situations happen where I don't feel like a guy's reached the potential that I feel like they could, I take that personally a little bit. And I try to figure out other ways to go about it. But, you know, JD, for me, it's the individual; it's nothing that I've done to make him better.”
Duran is in the 96th percentile in outs above average. Last season, he finished at zero outs above average, putting him in the 57th percentile. He is also a plus 10 in defensive runs saved after he finished last season at a minus six and owns a 2.3 in ultimate zone rating after finishing last year at -3.3, according to Baseball Savant.
His transformation in the outfield is a massive byproduct of Hudson working with Duran on his glove and finishing plays in the field.
“He's done it himself. And like, I've kind of put him in a position to work on the right things and, you know, hold him accountable to be consistent with what he does every day.”
“It's him and his; he works so hard and he puts a ton of pressure on himself to be the best, and you're seeing him develop. I mean, he started to develop last year. He got better last year, and he was still pretty raw, and you're just seeing him take off this year, and that's just his continued work and continued focus on being the best that he can be.
“So Jarren has made great leaps forward, literally and figuratively, in center field,” said Hudson.
Duran looks like he’s playing with a different level of confidence than two years ago. He’s playing every day, hitting atop Alex Cora’s lineup, and producing offensively and defensively.
Hudson is a big reason for that.
