After a breakout season, Red Sox outfielder Jarren Duran finished eighth in the race for the 2024 American League MVP award, according to voting results released Thursday.
Jarren Duran received some MVP votes with the award unanimously going to Aaron Judge. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)AP
Yankees slugger Aaron Judge won the award unanimously, receiving all 30 first-place votes to take home his second MVP in three years. Royals star Bobby Witt Jr. received all 30 second-place votes with New York’s Juan Soto (third), Baltimore’s Gunnar Henderson (fourth), Cleveland’s José Ramírez (fifth), Toronto’s Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (sixth) and Detroit Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal (seventh) clocking in ahead of Duran.
Duran received 90 voting points and got a fourth-place vote. Third baseman Rafael Devers finished 13th, receiving a seventh-place vote and a 10th-place vote. Duran is the highest Red Sox finisher since 2019, when Xander Bogaerts finished fifth and Mookie Betts, who won the award a year earlier, was eighth.
Duran also was a second-team All-MLB honoree as well as a Silver Slugger and Gold Glove finalist.
Duran, previously an up-and-down, role player for the Red Sox, emerged as a star and had a fantastic season that put him among the league leaders in many important categories on both sides of the ball. He finished with a .285 average, 48 doubles, 14 triples, 21 homers, 75 RBIs and 34 steals in 160 games. He led baseball in plate appearances with 735 and became the second player ever to lead the American League in doubles and triples, joining Ty Cobb, who did it three times before 1917. He became just the seventh player since 1900 to lead the majors in doubles and triples (including ties), joining a list that includes Honus Wagner, Cobb, Bobby Veach, Stan Musial (twice) and Lou Brock.
Duran led the majors in outfield assists (12), doubles (48) and triples (tied with Corbin Carroll at 14) while finishing in the top five in extra-base hits (4th with 83), hits (5th with 191) and the top 10 in runs (8th with 111) and steals (tied for 9th at 34). By Baseball Reference’s rankings, Duran finished fifth in all of baseball in WAR (8.7), trailing only superstars Judge, Witt Jr., Shohei Ohtani and Henderson.
Devers has now received MVP votes in five of the last six seasons. He topped out with an 11th-place finish in 2021.
