Mata shut down with UCL tear
‘No timetable’ on return of top prospect
The Red Sox are losing their top pitching prospect for at least the start of the season, if not longer.
Right-hander Bryan Mata, 21, has a slight tear in his ulnar collateral ligament and will be shut down indefinitely.
Mata was experiencing tricep soreness this week and the Red Sox thought it was nothing serious until an MRI revealed the UCL damage.
Mata will not have surgery and instead will try rest and rehab to recover.
“The doctors and physicians feel like it’s small enough so with treatment and doing that he should be fine,” manager Alex Cora said. “Obviously it’s going to take some time. There is no timetable.”
With a fastball that sits in the high 90s and developing off-speed pitches, Mata has climbed through the ranks quickly in the minor leagues, reaching Double-A as a 20-year-old in 2019. He was invited to big league camp and given a chance to impress this spring.
“If he is disciplined and follows everything that we are set to do, the hope is for him to come back,” Cora said. “He is very important to us. It’s a tough one.”
Cora stressed patience was the key for Mata in his recovery, but noted that anytime the UCL is involved, it’s scary.
“He’s young enough where probably everything is going fast for him right now,” Cora said. “But he is mature enough to understand these things happen over the course of your career. He did an amazing job in the offseason to get in shape and get his arm where it’s supposed to be. It’s an obstacle in his career, but we do feel he is going to bounce back and he is going to be OK.”
Casas returns to the club
Triston Casas, the club’s top hitting prospect who was being held in Boston for a non-baseball related medical issue, has returned to Fort Myers and will meet with the team’s medical department to see what kind of baseball activities he can start to do.
Cora wouldn’t offer more details about Casas’ condition, but said, “I think a lot of people are feeling better the last few days.”
Outfielder Franchy Cordero made it to Red Sox camp for the first time on Saturday morning. He was a late arrival after dealing with COVID-19-related issues following the trade from the Kansas City Royals for Andrew Benintendi. Cordero will likely appear in his first Grapefruit League game soon.
“He’s a little bit behind physically,” Cora said. “But with the kind of athlete he is and his physicality … he should be able to catch up fairly quickly.
“We have to communicate with the player and make sure he understands he doesn’t have to rush. Whenever he’s ready, he’s ready. We still have plenty of time in terms of at-bats.”
Ryan Weber started the Red Sox’ game vs. the Twins and looked good through two innings, but the game was then canceled due to rain.
Garrett Richards will start today vs. the Braves and the Sox will play nine innings. The plan is for him to throw three innings.
Downs has ‘sneaky’ power
One advantage to having most of the top Red Sox prospects at the alternate site in Pawtucket last year was that they got pretty familiar with each other.
Center field prospect Jarren Duran said he and second base prospect Jeter Downs became close friends.
“I love Jeter,” Duran said. “We talked all the time at the alternate site and hung out all the time. We played so many video games at the alternate site together. That was one of the highlights we got to do. He’s one of the nicest guys ever. He’s such a good player. I can’t wait for him to either make the big league team or see him ball out in Triple-A.”
Both Duran and Downs aren’t far from being big league ready, though both are expected to start the year in Triple-A Worcester.
“He’s strong,” Duran said of Downs. “He’s sneaky strong. You wouldn’t look at him and be like, ‘oh my God, this guy crushes the ball.’ But he’s really strong. He’s sneaky quick too. He’s pretty fast.”
When Jarren Duran turns around, that’s when the real game begins.
For a 24-year-old who hadn’t played the outfield with any regularity until his 21st birthday, putting your back to the play while chasing down a well-struck fly ball and then readjusting to make the catch is a big challenge.
It happened Saturday, when Duran made a good read on a blast headed straight for the center-field wall at JetBlue Park. Duran turned around and used his elite sprint speed to get to the spot, but couldn’t readjust quickly enough to have a chance at making a catch.
In reality, it would’ve taken a Gold Glove center fielder, Jackie Bradley Jr. perhaps, to have a play on that ball, which bounced off the wall, rolled far away from Duran and turned into a triple for Twins infielder JT Riddle. But it also served as a reminder that as excited as the Red Sox are about Duran, he still has developing to do.
“It’s still a transition,” said Duran, a natural second baseman who switched to the outfield in 2018. “But I think with Tom Goodwin and some of the other outfield coordinators, I’ve been getting better every day.”
The hardest part for him? Making a play on a ball just like the one hit by Riddle on Saturday.
“Probably going back on the ball, just putting my head down and running,” he said. “In the infield, you don’t really take your eye off the ball even if you’re going for a fly ball that much. Taking my head off the ball and learning to trust myself on my routes to the ball is kind of my big thing right now.”
The Red Sox know Duran will take time to get comfortable in center, but they trust his instincts and work ethic, and with once-every-decade speed aiding him, there’s hope Duran can turn into a quality defender.
The hard part will be controlling expectations.
When he does get his first big league call-up — likely to be later this year after he begins the season in Triple-A Worcester — he’ll be replacing a legendary defender in center field at Fenway Park.
“Jackie was a good role model and he was an amazing player here, but I can’t control what people want from me,” Duran said. “So I think just going out and doing the best that I can do is really all I can do. Just do what I can do. I can’t really try to mimic somebody who’s as great as him. Just trying to do what I need to do for myself is the goal.”
His manager hasn’t taken it easy on him with expectations, either.
Alex Cora has endorsed the Grady Sizemore comparison he heard from a reporter while Duran was playing in Puerto Rico over the winter.
They’re both 6-foot-2 and just over 200 pounds. With matching chiseled jaws, they look like they could be brothers. They both hit lefthanded. They both have speed. And while neither was a first-round draft pick (Sizemore was a thirdrounder and Duran a seventh-rounder), they both dealt with prospect hype before they ever arrived in the big leagues.
Being compared to Sizemore is “kind of a big deal,” Duran said.
“But I try not to compare myself to guys like that,” he said. “They’ve done so many great things and I haven’t done anything yet … I feel like I need to work my way to get compared to some of those guys.”
Asked if he had a chip on his shoulder from being a seventh-round draft choice, Duran shook his head.
“No, not really,” he said. “I would’ve gone to play for a plane ticket wherever they wanted me to go play. But I think I still have a chip on my shoulder for being a small guy. I grew up like 5-foot-6 in high school, undersized in every way. I still have that aspect of, ‘I need to work harder than everybody to catch up to them because I’m smaller than them.’ I still carry that around on my shoulders.”
Duran is getting regular playing time in center this spring, even if it’s unlikely he starts the year with the big league club. He’s already hit two homers, including one in a moment when Cora thought he’d drop a bunt down the thirdbase line and use his speed for an infield single.
But Duran has confidence in his swing and developing power, despite hitting just five homers in his last full minor league season.
“The power just came with my swing change, with my path and my direction,” he said. “It just allowed me to be more free. I don’t think I’m really trying to hit home runs or swing for power. I think it’s just my natural swing that allows me to get more lift.”
There’s still plenty of growing to do.
“Honestly, I go out and just try to enjoy every moment,” he said. “I’m not trying to make anything too big or trying to think too much or anything. I’m just trying to go out and have fun.”