Among his many feats this year, Jarren Duran notched his first career 20/20 season, with 21 home runs and 34 stolen bases as of this writing. It is the first 20/20 Boston campaign since Mookie Betts in 2018 (32 home runs, 30 stolen bases).
Duran is one of 19 Major Leaguers to reach a 20/20 milestone this year. That ties 2023 for the most such players in any single season. There are still a couple games left to play in the regular season and a few players, like Orioles outfielder Cedric Mullins, who is close to reaching 20/20, also.
Duran is the 10th player with a 20/20 season in club history. His year marks the 13th time a Red Sox batter has gone 20/20, including three such seasons for Betts (2016-18) and two for Jackie Jensen. Jensen, an All-Star with both the Yankees and the Red Sox, became Boston’s first-ever 20/20 player in 1954. He did it again in 1959.
The Sox didn’t have another 20/20 campaign again until 1970, when Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski clubbed 40 home runs and stole a career-best 23 bags, all while mashing the baseball for a career-best 1.044 OPS.
Seventeen years later, a 22-year-old rookie, Ellis Burks, would thrill Sox Nation again with a 20/20 effort. Twenty-five of Burks’ 27 stolen bases in 1987 were already in the books when he belted his 20th home run, just twelve days before the season ran out.
Unlike Burks, John Valentin booked his 20th home run of the 1995 season with two long balls on August 10th at Fenway, but he needed just one more stolen base to join the 20/20 club. That finally came with just seven days left on the calendar, and Valentin became just the fifth 20/20 player in franchise history. Two years later, Nomar Garciaparra belted 32 home runs and stole 22 bags in his Rookie of the Year 1997 season.
Since 2011, there have been seven 20/20 performances, including Duran’s this year. See the full table below.
Two (or more) in one season
Just twice in franchise history have multiple Red Sox had 20/20 seasons. Dustin Pedroia and Jacoby Ellsbury dig it in 2011, while Betts and Andrew Benintendi delivered in 2017. The only Major League teams with more seasons in which multiple players went 20/20 are the Mets (3 seasons), Tigers (3), Guardians (3), Blue Jays (4), Diamondbacks (5), and Reds (6).
In Major League history only the Mets have had seasons where three players went 20/20: Howard Johnson, Kevin McReynolds, and Darryl Strawberry in 1988, Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, and Jayson Werth in 2009.
20/20 Red Sox Seasons
Here’s every Red Sox player’s season with 20+ home run and 20+ stolen bases.
| Season | HR | SB | |
|---|---|---|---|
| JACKIE JENSEN | 1954 | 25 | 22 |
| JACKIE JENSEN | 1959 | 28 | 20 |
| CARL YASTRZEMSKI | 1970 | 40 | 23 |
| ELLIS BURKS | 1987 | 20 | 27 |
| JOHN VALENTIN | 1995 | 27 | 20 |
| NOMAR GARCIAPARRA | 1997 | 30 | 22 |
| JACOBY ELLSBURY | 2011 | 32 | 39 |
| DUSTIN PEDROIA | 2011 | 21 | 26 |
| MOOKIE BETTS | 2016 | 31 | 26 |
| ANDREW BENINTENDI | 2017 | 20 | 20 |
| MOOKIE BETTS | 2017 | 24 | 26 |
| MOOKIE BETTS | 2018 | 32 | 30 |
| JARREN DURAN | 2024 | 21 | 34 |
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