Red Sox Star Having 'Slightly Ridiculous' Year May Lose MVP Votes To Teammate

Who will be Boston's leading vote-getter for American League MVP?

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The Boston Red Sox have two young bats in their lineup capable of winning an MVP.

There’s at least a handful of Major League franchises that would happily swap their best two players for Boston’s Jarren Duran and Rafael Devers, especially considering that neither Duran nor Devers has reached 28 years of age yet.

The Red Sox are in an envious position with their Duran/Devers duo, and 2024 has done nothing but reinforce that reality. Duran has had a career year, which landed him on his first All-Star team. Devers — often underrated compared to other superstars — has put up stellar numbers himself, albeit while making less headlines.

The American League MVP will be awarded to either Aaron Judge or Bobby Witt Jr., but from the Red Sox perspective, it’ll be interesting to see who between Duran and Devers does better at the polls.

Most would assume that Duran has the upper hand this season, but at least one new report suggests that Devers could sneak by Duran on the MVP ballot.

In a piece released Wednesday by Bleacher Report’s Kerry Miller entitled, “Ranking MLB's Top 10 AL and NL MVP Candidates”, Miller ranked Duran at No. 10 in the AL while alluding to Devers’s candidacy for the award.

“(Duran’s) combination of 74 extra-base hits and 32 stolen bases is slightly ridiculous, and he's adding quite a bit of value with his glove in the outfield,” Miller said. “However, Boston probably isn't going to make the postseason, Duran was initially the biggest snub in the All-Star voting process, he might not be the top vote-getter from his own team (Rafael Devers may well edge him out) and his recent two-game suspension for directing a homophobic slur at a fan did absolutely nothing to help his cause here.”

Entering Wednesday, Duran was slashing .293/ .353/ .523 with 19 home runs and 67 RBIs on the year. By comparison, Devers was at .290/ .369/ .571 with 28 homers and 80 RBIs.

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