Once considered one of baseball’s best all-around shortstops during his time with the Colorado Rockies, Trevor Story’s first three years with the Boston Red Sox have been nothing short of a disaster.
The then-29-year-old signed a six-year,$140 million contract with the Red Sox before the 2022 season in the hopes of forming one of baseball’s best double-play combinations with Xander Bogaerts, but got off to a brutal start with a .194/.296/.269 line through his first 24 games. A three-homer game against the Mariners helped him get back on track, but then just as he and the Red Sox were heating up, an errant Corey Kluber fastball fractured his wrist and sidelined him for six weeks. By the time Story was ready to return, the Red Sox had already fallen out of the postseason race, essentially making his first season in Boston a wash.
The 2023 would see Story move back from second base to shortstop after Bogaerts signed with the San Diego Padres, but due to an internal brace procedure to clean up a lingering elbow injury, he wouldn’t be able to take the field until August. Once again, the Red Sox were essentially out of the race by the time he returned, and he never really found his timing, hitting just .203 with three home runs in 43 games. 2024 would be the toughest break of all, as after a healthy off-season and spring training, Story would dislocate his shoulder diving for a ground ball in the season’s eighth game, which would keep him out until the beginning of September.
Given that Story had played just 163 games in the previous three seasons and was entering his age 32 season, nobody knew exactly what to expect in 2025. The early returns, however, have been as much as the Red Sox could have hoped for, as an early-season hot streak, which included a two-homer game against the Chicago White Sox on April 18, has resulted in a solid .735 OPS despite a 1-for-25 skid in the past week. His 53.8 hard-hit percentage ranks in the 91st percentile, and while a few errors have tanked his Outs Above Average, he has provided stability at the shortstop position after years of ineffectiveness and turnover.
Most importantly, Story has been able to stay on the field, already topping his 2024 total in games played and posting his highest WAR since 2022. Though his strikeout and chase rates leave something to be desired, Story’s bounce-back has been a bright spot for an up-and-down Red Sox team, which is why Bleacher Report’s Joel Reuter named him to MLB’s All-Surprise team for April.
“A .232/.296/.397 hitter over 670 plate appearances with the Red Sox when he had managed to take the field prior to this season, he has taken steps toward returning to the impact form he showed throughout his time with the Colorado Rockies,” Reuter wrote. “A major power/speed threat early in his career with three 20/20 seasons on his resume, it is also a promising sign that he has swiped six bases in the early going this year.”
With one of the deepest lineups in baseball, the Red Sox don’t need Story to repeat the 37-homer, .914 OPS output of his Colorado days. A 20-20 season, plus defense and an above-average OPS is a perfectly reasonable expectation, and Story looks well on his way to reaching those numbers if he is able to stay on the field.
More MLB: MLB writer makes brutal declaration about Juan Soto’s first month with Mets
