PHILADELPHIA — The arrival of Jhoan Duran to the Phillies left his wife with tears of joy. It had almost the opposite effect for Rob Thomson’s significant other.
The emotions were mixed Wednesday when Duran was traded Wednesday from Twins to the Phillies. Minnesota was mid-firesale, landing minor league catcher Eduardo Tait and near-major league starter Mick Abel. Duran has been with Minnesota since 2018, playing all four of his major league seasons there in his ascent to elite closer status.
When he saw the numbers available upon joining the Phillies, the emotions jumbled further, for he and wife Aida.
“They sent the list they had of the only numbers available for me, and I said, oh you don’t have 59,” Duran said Friday, before a game against Detroit. “They said, you don’t know who has that number? I said, No. They said, oh it’s the manager. I said, damn.”
The conversation with the owner of said number, Rob Thomson, was brief. Duran has played his entire career with “59” on his back, given to him by the Twins upon his acquisition in a trade from Arizona. Thomson understood that importance.
“The trade happened while we were in-game against the White Sox,” Thomson said. “So Phil (Sheridan, director of clubhouse services) called him and said, you know, the manager’s got your number. Do you want me to talk to him about it? He said, Oh no, no, no, no, no. He’s very respectful.
“And then after the game, I called him, and we’re chit-chatting, and I said, ‘Hey, the number really doesn’t mean much to me, but if it makes you feel better, I’m all in.’ He said, ‘Well, you know, yeah.’ And I said, ‘then it’s yours, go have it.’ ”
Duran, who has 59 in his home address in his native Dominican Republic and etched into the pool there, was emotional. So was Thomson’s wife Michele, since she now must update her merch with Rob’s new 49, chosen by the skipper after his old Yankees buddy, Ron Guidry.
For the comfort of his new closer, Thomson gladly relinquished the number.
“That was a big thing for me,” Duran said. “I’ve gotten everything with that number. … So that’s special for me.”
“Special” is how Thomson describes Duran as a pitcher. An elite closer under organizational control through the end of 2027, the Phillies paid a steep price in two of baseball’s top 100 prospects. But they get their long-sought ninth-inning answer, someone who changes the roles of everyone else in the bullpen.
Duran was 17-23 with 74 saves and a 2.47 ERA over four seasons as a Twin. This year, he’s 6-4 with a 2.01 ERA and 16 saves in 49.1 innings. He’s never had a WHIP above 1.17. Batters are slugging just .257 against him this year.
He’s been excellent in four career playoff games, allowing two hits and no runs over five innings in 2023.
“He’s really good,” Thomson said. “He’s one of the best in game if he’s not the best. That just moves everybody up an inning.”
Duran doesn’t just have the stuff, with 100th-percentile fastball velocity and a splinker – the offspring of a two-seam fastball and a splitter – that is devastating. He also has the closer’s charisma, with notorious light-show entrance complete with music and fire graphics that fit the “Durantula” persona created early in his Twins career.
“He has close-the-door stuff,” said Harrison Bader, his former Twins and now Phillies teammate acquired a day later. “It’s really all there is to it. It’s the best way to describe it. Tough situation, runner on, baseball happens and he kind of puts a couple runners on, he’s got strikeout stuff to strike out three in a row. I saw it all year. I’ve seen it on the other side, so it’s a really good addition to an already really good pitching staff.”
The intro will travel with him to Philadelphia, Duran watching a preview on the screens at Citizens Bank Park before the game Friday.
“I can see the fire around the stadium,” he said. “So I want to see it when a lot of people are here.”
Source: Berkshire mont
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