The Sox drafted Duran and announced him as an outfielder. He did play 20 games in Low A ball at 2b, but I don’t think they impacted the decision to move him to outfield. (I can’t even verify if they were his first 20 games.).
It’s actually not uncommon to draft a player at one position with the intent of moving him to another. I once listened to an interview with Brandon Inge and he talked about getting drafted. He got the call saying he was a second round selection of the Detroit Tigers, received his congrats, and hung up. Several minutes later, Inge got another call and was told “by the way, you’re going to be playing catcher.” As Inge had only played shortstop in his days at VCU and never even thought about catcher, he had some mixed emotions.
In similar fashion , it wouldn’t surprise me if the Sox folks at the time felt Duran’s speed would be better utilized in the outfield before they even selected him…