Red Sox Ascending Superstar Becomes First MLB Player To Accomplish This Feat

Rare air and then some for the breakout Boston star

Aug 26, 2024; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Red Sox center fielder Jarren Duran (16) to third base on a pick-off error against the Toronto Blue Jays in the third inning at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports / David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports

If you're a Major League Baseball fan, you're surely aware of Aaron Judge's pursuit of an American League-record 63 home runs, and that Shohei Ohtani is chasing the first-ever 50-50 season.

On Tuesday, however, the Boston Red Sox's newest superstar beat them both to the punch.

Jarren Duran has had a phenomenal year as the center fielder in Boston, his first full season in the big leagues at the age of 27. Tuesday night, he led off the game against the Toronto Blue Jays with a solo home run, his sixth time leading off with an extra-base hit in Boston's last eight games.

The home run wasn't just an instrumental part of Boston's eventual 6-3 victory. It was Duran's 20th of the season, a testament to how far his power has come since adding a leg kick to his swing in mid-May. And it also put Duran in his own unique place in the Major League Baseball record books.

Duran now has 13 triples, 20 home runs, 32 stolen bases, and 42 doubles on the season. According to J.P. Long, via stats from Elias Sports Bureau, that makes Duran the first player in MLB history (since at least 1901) to record at least 10 triples, 20 homers, 30 steals, and 40 doubles in a single season.

It's a fitting recognition for a player who excels in a mold not quite like anyone else in the game today. Duran isn't the best power hitter, the fastest overall player, or even the best base stealer in baseball, but he's managed to be so good at all those things that he's put himself in a category of his own.

And appropriately, on the same night he founded the 10-20-30-40 club, Duran also climbed above eight wins above replacement on the season, putting him behind only Judge and Bobby Witt Jr. among the most valuable players by WAR in MLB this season.

Perhaps manager Alex Cora said it best after the game on Tuesday, simply remarking, "He's gonna make a lot of money," per Chris Cotillo of MassLive.

There's still a lot of baseball left to play, and Duran's ultimate goal is to help the Red Sox snag an unlikely playoff berth. But sometimes, one just has to marvel at how far Duran has progressed in his time in a Red Sox uniform.

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