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What does Kikรฉ Hernandez’s new Red Sox contract mean for Jarren Duran?
Hernandez and the rise of Ceddanne Rafaela could make Duran's future in Boston murky.
Just a week prior to signing Kiké Hernandez to a one-year deal worth $10 million, the Red Sox were still talking in positive terms about centerfield prospect Jarren Duran.
Duran, who opened up recently to MassLive’s Chris Cotillo about his mental-health struggles, is batting .220/.283/.365 this season and has bounced between Worcester and Boston. His most recent stint with the big-league club went poorly thanks to a couple of high-profile mishaps.
Still, per Cotillo, the Red Sox “by no means” had plans to give up on the 26-year-old prospect.
“I respect the hell out of him for being open,” Chaim Bloom told Cotillo. “It’s not easy to fall short of what you know you’re capable of and it’s even harder to talk about that.
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“The world will be a better place the more people are willing to be vulnerable and willing to acknowledge that a lot of things are hard. Life is hard, baseball is certainly hard. We’re not going to make it any easier by pretending that’s not true.”
Hernandez, meanwhile, can play a couple of positions including second base, but he excelled defensively in center over the last two seasons and seems to have settled into a groove primarily as an outfielder. A year of Hernandez sets the Red Sox up — in an ideal world — for the arrival of Ceddanne Rafaela, whose defensive brilliance in Portland helped him rise to No. 4 on Baseball America’s Red Sox top 30.
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Consider this an opportunity to show a gratuitous number of Rafaela highlights.
Rafaela’s rise further complicates Duran’s situation. The 21-year-old — whose ETA is 2023 — isn’t quite as fast as Duran, but he has plenty of speed, and his bat has sparked some interest. MLB Pipeline has him ranked No. 100 in MiLB and praised his bat-to-ball skills with “a quick right-handed swing and some sneaky strength.” Rafaela’s defensive prowess, of course, is obvious.
The Red Sox might not have to punt on the Duran era just yet. Hernandez hasn’t had an exceptional year at the plate, batting just .219/.283/.354 with six homers. He played just 68 games so far while dealing with a variety of injuries, but his numbers weren’t good before his injuries either — as Over the Monster noted, Hernandez slashed .209/.273/.340 prior to June.
Even if Hernandez is better next season, there’s room for more outfielders. Alex Verdugo and Rob Refsnyder are both on the roster. The free-agent market is always an option. Duran struggled to deal with the pressure recently, but maybe he can improve if expectations are lowered a bit. Even if Rafaela is the centerfielder of the future, rebuilding Duran’s trade value is a worthwhile goal for Chaim Bloom.
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Still, bringing Hernandez back for another season is difficult to interpret as anything besides a vote of little confidence (at best) in Duran’s future with the team, unless significant improvements occur soon.
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