Pair of red-hot hitters rewarding Boston for its patience

This story was excerpted from Ian Browne’s Red Sox Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

The one thing you can never quite project in baseball is when things will start to click for young players.

But if those players are gifted enough, the best approach for an organization is to stay as patient as possible.

The Red Sox are currently being rewarded for their patience with a pair of left-handed hitters in Jarren Duran and Triston Casas, who are turning into cornerstones in the lineup.

Even the most positive fans had lost hope that Duran would turn into a solid Major Leaguer after a 311 at-bat sample size from 2021-22 that produced the following numbers:

.219/.269/.354
17 doubles
5 homers
27 RBIs

Even Duran’s top strength -- his speed -- wasn’t playing. He had just nine stolen bases in the first 91 games of his career.

While Duran didn’t make the team out of Spring Training, he was just a phone call away at Triple-A Worcester. And that call came shortly after Adam Duvall broke his left wrist 10 days into the season.

If chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom had traded Duran last offseason, you likely wouldn’t have heard much dissent -- if any -- from Red Sox Nation.

Instead of giving up on Duran, though, Bloom held onto an affordable asset who has transformed himself into one of the best players on the Red Sox.

The 26-year-old Duran is leading off against righties while rotating between left and center field. And how about this for a stat line? In 79 games and 259 at-bats this season, Duran is slashing .317/.367/.514 with 29 doubles, six homers and 34 RBIs while converting on 19 of his 20 stolen-base attempts.

Then there is Casas, who started his rookie season a rough 183 at-bat stretch that included a .197 average with seven homers and 19 RBIs.

At that point, the Red Sox could have decided to send Casas back to Triple-A for a bit to cure the mechanical glitches that were ailing him. Instead, the decision the club made was for Casas to work through those issues with the coaches on the Major League staff.

The result of that decision? In his last 92 at-bats, Casas has a line of .348/.423/.663 with seven homers and 17 RBIs.

“I think it's just been a steady progression for sure,” said Casas. “I can't pinpoint exactly when I started to feel more comfortable. But I think as every at-bat has gone on, I’ve felt more and more comfortable at the plate.

“Things are starting to slow down. I'm starting to get a better awareness of my barrel, trying to get a better feel for my timing as well. So all that comes with repetition, and thankfully I'm getting the opportunity to fail. So credit to [manager Alex Cora] and the staff for putting me in the lineup and allowing me to get comfortable.”

Perhaps the person who is the least surprised by the resurgence of Casas is Duran.

“Every day he comes in here behind the scenes, he’s always working, always trying to get better and it’s starting to show,” Duran said. “I’m so happy for him that he’s putting his head down and working and it’s so awesome to see him go out there and do his thing.”

Of course, Duran can relate to it, because he did the same thing.

“Just like any of the other guys on the team, we’re going through a good stretch,” said Duran. “I’ve seen it all with his work and preparation before, stuff you guys don’t get to see, and it’s awesome to see him go out there and put it all together.”