Alex Cora on Jarren Duran: ‘He’s going to save lives’

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BOSTON — Red Sox manager Alex Cora spoke on Monday for the first time about the Red Sox Netflix documentary in which outfielder Jarren Duran discusses the depths of his struggles with his mental health.

“I truly believe that him opening up is going to help a lot of people,” Cora said. “It takes a person with courage and being transparent and genuine to do that. I hope that’s how we see it, right? He will impact others, and he’s going to save lives with what he did on Netflix.”

Duran spoke about his battles with depression and struggles with mental health in the fourth episode of Netflix’s eight-part documentary, “The Clubhouse: A year with the Red Sox.” All eight episodes are available on Tuesday.

Though the documentary does not specify when the attempt was made, it’s suggested it was during the 2022 season. Duran is expected to speak to the media on Tuesday about the episode.

Cora said he’s tried to be as much of a resource for Duran as possible since he was made aware of the incident. He would not offer details on when he found out about it, but said he’s known for a while. In the series, Duran describes Cora as a father figure.

“Since I learned about it, me as a person, I’ve given him support, love, and somebody that he can talk to,” Cora said. “That door is always open. The relationship has grown throughout the years. Obviously, a lot of private conversations about the subject.”

Cora, who had a 14-year playing career spanning from 1998 to 2011, noted the increased awareness around mental health compared to when he played, but at the same time said players are still people and still struggle with the expectations.

“We live in a tough world, we do,” Cora said. “The pressure to perform at this level is unique. Nobody knows what a professional athlete has to go through. We lived it through Jarren, right? Throughout his career, we’ve seen part of the stuff.

“And I’m glad that I work for the Boston Red Sox, and we take this very seriously. The people that have worked with our players, our personnel, the people in the front office, they’re amazing people. They mean a lot to us. They put our athletes — they take them to the next level, if I’m being honest, because without them, it would be hard to perform.”

Over the offseason, the Red Sox hired mental performance coordinator Jake Chaplin. The organization also employs a sports psychologist and a mental performance coach as well as three doctors on staff that lead their behavioral health department, including Dr. Richard Ginsburg, who’s worked with the team since 2014.

Cora said this offseason Chaplin worked with the coaches to help them better connect with the players and recognize signs of mental stress.

“(The coaches) are the ones that spend a lot of time with (the players) in the cage, taking grounders, in the plane, in the hotel,” Cora said. “So (Chaplin is) giving us the tools to kind of recognize stuff — not only performance on the field, other red flags. When in doubt, we call him, we call Dr. G, and we go from there.”

If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, call or text 988 for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741.

(Photo: Alika Jenner / Getty Images)

This news was originally published on this post .

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