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Boston Red Sox outfielder Jarren Duran opened Sunday with a lead-off home run, moving up the team's record books.

In an up-and-down season, there has been some debate about who should be leading off in the lineup for the Boston Red Sox. That debate looks to be over now, with Jarren Duran emphatically earning the job.

On Sunday, during the rubber match of Boston’s trip to play the Cleveland Guardians, Duran opened up play with a leadoff home run. This came just days after Duran hit a leadoff home run against the Atlanta Braves.

More importantly, Duran made some Red Sox team history with the leadoff home run. With it, he broke a tie for second and took sole possession of the silver slot for most leadoff home runs in team history. He has 11 on his career. Duran had previously been tied with Jacoby Ellsbury.

Holding the first-place slot is Mookie Betters. Now a star for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Betts hit 20 leadoff home runs when he was with the Red Sox. So, Duran has a way to go before he can move into first place.

Jarren Duran Turned His Season Around in the Month of May

The leadoff home run was great for Jarren Duran, but it was indicative of something larger for the Red Sox All-Star. It looks like he’s fully turned his season around at the plate.

Asked to spend more time as a DH this season, before Roman Anthony went down with his finger injury, Duran was one of the worst hitters in all of MLB for the first month or so of the season. His overall numbers still aren’t great, as he entered play on Sunday hitting .217 with a .279 OBP, .396 slugging percentage, and .675 OPS. Remember, that’s as a leadoff hitter.

His numbers are low overall, but Duran has been rallying in recent weeks. He now has 9 home runs in the month of May, which is tied for third and only behind Kyle Schwarber and Julio Rodriguez. So, he found his power and it looks like his overall swing is back where he wants it to be.

For the month of May, Duran is hitting .259 with a .320 and a .527 slugging percentage. That’s good for a .847 OPS. That’s just behind the pace he set in 2024, when Duran finished eighth in MVP voting.

This comes at a time when the Red Sox desperately need to find some power on the offensive side of the ball. Injuries and generally poor performance are taking their toll. So, getting Duran’s production back up has been massive.

The Boston Red Sox Need to Make an Important Decision in the Outfield

There was a general expectation in the offseason that the Red Sox would be trading an outfielder. It only made sense. Between Jarren Duran, Roman Anthony, Ceddanne Rafaela, Wilyer Abreu, and Masataka Yoshida, the Red Sox have too many starter-quality outfielders to actually play.

The Red Sox never made that trade, though. Instead, Boston held onto all five of those outfielders and created what was seen as a logjam.

Duran has often been cited as the outfielder who could be moved. Rafaela and Anthony signed long-term extensions with the team. There has also been talk of extending Abreu, who has two Gold Glove Awards and has proven to be one of the team’s better bats. Yoshida’s contract, meanwhile, is expensive and difficult to move. That leaves Duran, who has proven MLB success but no extension in sight, as the likely player to get moved.

Of course, none of that has happened yet. Until it does, it’s difficult to judge what Red Sox CBO Craig Breslow is planning.