Chance to honor his father has Duran excited to play for Mexico again in Classic

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- When Red Sox outfielder Jarren Duran left Spring Training to join Team Mexico for the 2023 World Baseball Classic, it was a decision that came with some confusion outside the walls of the Red Sox.

At that point, after the toughest season of his life, Duran was still trying to earn an Opening Day roster spot. There was no guarantee he would play much for Mexico -- and he didn’t, getting just five at-bats over six games.

The most memorable image of Duran from that Classic was of him wearing a sombrero while cheering on his teammates throughout the semifinal loss to eventual champion Japan.

This time is so much different as Duran is a cornerstone for the Red Sox, one of the club’s most dynamic players and a 29-year-old veteran on a team with a bright young core.

And as Duran gets set to head to Arizona on Sunday to join Team Mexico for his second WBC experience, he goes in with the knowledge he will be the starting right fielder, representing the country his father Octavio is from.

“Being able to go out there and support my dad is big,” Duran said. “I feel like I don’t get to support that side of him that much. So this is going to be a huge honor for me to go out there and represent my last name and his last name.”

Representation is important to Duran.

“I feel like it's just a daily thing,” said Duran. “You’re always carrying your family's name and the Red Sox, and it's a good way to go out there and represent what the Red Sox are about, and kind of show the kind of characters that we have over here.”

Duran leaves his first leg of Spring Training on a high note, having clubbed three home runs over the past two games, the last of which was a Statcast-projected 409-foot rope to center in the fourth inning on Saturday.

In fact, Duran has come out of the Grapefruit League gate surging, with seven hits in 12 at-bats. He feels like he’s in a good spot after a solid ‘25 season, but one that didn’t quite measure up to his breakout ‘24 campaign when he earned some cache by being named MVP of the All-Star Game.

“When he's on, he's an impact player,” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora. “In a 'bad season,' he was a 4 WAR player last year. We know what he can do offensively. Defensively, he’s working hard with [outfield instructor Kyle Hudson] to clean up a few things that happened last year, as far as ball security and all that. But we love the player. In this environment [with recent rule changes making speed more important], he's the perfect player.”

With Duran, the ongoing battle has always been to try to be less critical of himself.

“I think it's just more just simplifying myself, and staying calm and not trying to put too much pressure on myself,” said Duran. “Staying calm in the box is one of the most important things I've been trying to work on.”

If there’s one thing Duran learned from his first WBC, it’s that the atmosphere will be far from calm and he will be loving that.

“It's an electric atmosphere,” Duran said. “My first WBC, it was extremely shocking to see how intense it is . Those are like Game 7 World Series games. They're so loud. I've never seen the Diamondbacks' stadium so crowded as last time when we played over there, and I just got to observe it. I didn’t have to play. And Houston [where Mexico starts pool play Friday vs. Great Britain at 1 p.m. ET on FS1] is loud, and I think it's gonna be sold out, so it's gonna be super fun. I'm excited.”

And for the record, Duran has no regrets about his first time at the WBC, mainly due to the way the Red Sox supported his decision. Though he didn’t end up cracking the team’s Opening Day roster, Duran was called up on April 17, immediately got hot and has been an everyday player ever since.

“A.C. talked to me and said, ‘Hey, go play.’ If they would have told me, ‘Hey, we aren't sure,' I would have stayed. But they were supporting me the whole way through,” Duran said.

Aside from playing time, the big difference for Duran will be comfortability.

“I’m going to know everybody the second time around,” Duran said. “Last time, I was nervous with Rowdy Tellez, Alek Thomas, [Alejandro] Kirk and Randy [Arozarena]. Now, I'm gonna be able to mess around with them a little more, joke with them. So that's what I'm really looking forward to, is building that bond with those guys again.”