Boston Red Sox spring training is underway, and outfielder Jarren Duran will be manning a different position than usual for a while.
Duran is at spring training, but will soon head out to compete in the World Baseball Classic. Duran is playing for Mexico and figures to be playing in right field. As a result, Alex Cora and the Red Sox are getting him ready to do that by playing him there early in spring training.
“(Cora) came up to me today and said you’re going to play right field in the WBC so let’s get you ready for that,” Duran said to reporters on Monday, per the Boston Herald’s Marc Cerullo.
Duran has made just 10 appearances in right field in his big league career. He has logged just 50 1/3 innings at the position. Cora noted that the inexperience there could lead to injuries, which is why the Red Sox want to get him ready.
“Hopefully we can get him in games playing that position. Get him ready because it’s fair for the player, fair for the federation and fair for us,” Cora said per Cerullo. “Because if he’s going to play right field he better be ready because it will be hard for me to be watching a game and then all of a sudden he gets hurt because he wasn’t prepared for that.”
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Ceddanne Rafaela and Wilyer Abreu figure to be the regulars in center and right field for the Red Sox when the season starts. Duran and Roman Anthony figure to share designated hitter and left field duties.
Abreu, Rafaela and Anthony figure to be playing their normal positions in the World Baseball Classic, so they should be good to go defensively. Cora noted that he does not anticipate Duran playing much right field for the Red Sox after the World Baseball Classic.