BY MARK SIMON

If you had said before the season started that Jarren Duran would lead all center fielders in Defensive Runs Saved entering August 6, I’d have been quite surprised.

 And if you’d said that he’d be doing that even as the Red Sox have split his defensive time between center field and left field, I probably wouldn’t have known what to say.

But here we are in early August. Duran not only ranks No. 1 in center field with 12 Runs Saved. He’s also been good in left field, totaling 5 more Runs Saved.

In all, he’s made a 22-run jump, from -5 in 2023 to 17 Runs Saved in total in 2024.

Two players have improved on their Defensive Runs Saved total by at least 20 runs among those who played at least 400 innings in the field both last season and this season. Duran is one of the two. Rockies catcher Elias Díaz is the other.

The improvement has come in the form of both catches and throws. In his three previous seasons in center field, he’d totaled -13 Runs Saved from range. He’s saved 8 runs with his range there this season plus 1 more run from range in left field.

Duran leads the majors with 7 Outfield Arm Runs Saved, 4 in left field and 3 in center field. His 9 outfield assists are tied with Miguel Andujar for the major league lead. One of his best of the year was a game-saver last month against the Marlins, a throw that denied the winning run from scoring in the bottom of the 9th.

Most of the players who rank high in Defensive Runs Saved improvement from 2023 to 2024 had a position change or shift in playing time at one spot this season. You can see the leaderboard at the end of this article.

But even if we considered only Duran’s Runs Saved change in center field, he’d still be among the most improved defensive players in the game in 2024.

Elias Díaz

Average never felt quite so good.

In 2022 and 2023, Díaz finished last and next-to-last in Strike Zone Runs Saved, our stat which measures a catcher’s ability to get more strikes than expected, with -13 and -16, respectively.

This season, Díaz’s pitch framing issues are no longer issues. He’s saved 1 run, per Strike Zone Runs Saved, making him basically an average catcher in that area. A closer look at the data shows that Díaz has gotten much better at getting called strikes on pitches to his arm side (pitches outside to right-handed hitters, like this one).

With that boost, Díaz has 6 Runs Saved overall in just under 500 innings this season, a 22-run improvement from 2023.

The area in which Díaz rates well is in stolen base prevention. He’s recorded an MLB-best 13 Stolen Base Runs Saved over the last 4 seasons, including 3 Runs Saved in 2024.

A good finish to the season would give Díaz a chance at his career high in Runs Saved, 9 for the Rockies in 2021. That came two years after his career-worst -21 with the Pirates in 2019, as he’s showing that he can make big improvements to his game.

Below is a list of the players who have improved the most in overall Defensive Runs Saved

Biggest Improvement In Defensive Runs Saved

2023 to 2024 (Minimum 400 Innings Played In The Field Each Season)