Boston Red Sox outfielder Jarren Duran had an outstanding season by anyone’s measure in 2024. He played in 160 games, batted .285 with 48 doubles, 14 triples, and 21 home runs while knocking in 75 runs.
Most of that production was done from the leadoff spot. Duran led the team with 34 steals, had a WAR of 8.7, and won the All-Star game MVP. Duran also flirted with Red Sox history, finishing with 330 total bases, just 11 bases away from cracking an elite top 25 Red Sox single-season total bases leaderboard.
Headlining the Red Sox single-season total bases list is Hall of Fame outfielder Jim Rice. In 1978, Rice totaled 406 total bases on his way to the American League MVP. It was the first of three straight seasons that Rice would crack the top 25 in Red Sox history.
In all, Rice appears on the Red Sox total bases list a record four times. Hall of Famers Ted Williams and David Oritz each made the list three times, as did Red Sox fan-favorite Nomar Garciappara. The most recent Red Sox to join this elite group was Xander Bogaerts, who ranks 25th with 341 total bases in 2019.
Jarren Duran has the stuff to crack the Red Sox’s single-season total bases leaderboard in 2025
Duran checks many of the boxes required to earn a spot in the Sox’s top 25 single-season total base leaders. He gets the required plate appearances. Rice had 677 plate appearances in 1978 and played in all 163 games — yes, really, 163. Duran appeared in 160 games last season and led the MLB with 671 at-bats.
Rice also was a triples machine during his magical three-year run between 1977 and 1979. He combined for 39 triples in those three years despite not being placed with elite speed. Rice was a power alley machine, and that led to more triples. Duran had 14 triples in 2024 with a chance to play every day, and he does possess elite speed that can turn doubles into triples.
The areas that Duran will need to improve upon to reach elite status are batting average and power. While he hit a solid .285 last year, that number is a far cry from Rice’s three-year run in which he averaged over .300 from the plate and over 200 hits per season. Rice also had a three-year home run total of 124 home runs, peaking at 46 in 1978.
A good comparison for Duran here would be 2011 Jacoby Ellsbury, who ranks 11th on the all-time total bases list. Ellsbury jumped his average up to .321 that season with 212 hits. His power numbers surged with a career-high 31 home runs and 46 doubles. Duran hit 21 last season, and it is not unreasonable to see that total rise closer to 30. He will likely have fewer doubles than Ellsbury with his propensity to take the extra base, but Ellsbury had just five triples in his breakout year, while one can expect Duran to post at least 10 triples.
Of the 13 different players on the Red Sox’s all-time top 25 single-season total base leaders, five are in the Hall of Fame — Rice, Williams, Jimmie Foxx, David Ortiz, and Carl Yastrzemski. Another franchise record holder who should be in the Hall but may never be elected, Manny Ramirez, and one eventually will in Mookie Betts.
Ellsbury is the one outlier on the list, but he was a productive player. At just 28 years old, Duran is very much in his prime and has a chance to be a multi-time member. Moreover, total bases will always be the ultimate measure of production. Duran has a chance to do what few have done before him while, ahem, also doing it looking for a multi-year contract. Everybody wins except for the Red Sox purse strings.
