It’s been a rough start to the season for Boston Red Sox shortstop Trevor Story.
Hopes were high entering the season, not just for the Red Sox, but for Story specifically. The 32-year-old has been anchored by injuries for each of his first three seasons with Boston, prolonging the World Series pursuit that Story envisioned when he signed a six-year, $140 million deal with the team.
EDITOR’S PICKS
This season, it’s been an ice-cold slump in the batter’s box that’s hindered him instead. Story began the year on a promising start, hitting .309 with five home runs and 15 RBIs over the first 25 games — which didn’t last very long.
“Since then, it’s been bad,” Story admitted Wednesday, per MassLive’s Sean McAdam. “You go through these runs in baseball. But where I need to be better is, the highs have been high, but the lows have been really low, too. I’m not oblivious to that. That’s part of being a good player and an everyday player, too — you have to kind of calm those waters when it’s not going good. And I haven’t done a good job of that.”
Story’s last home run came May 10 and his last multi-hit game came on May 2. There have been a handful of instances where the two-time All-Star has stepped up to the plate with runners in scoring position, in need of a spark, and he’s failed to come through. He’s committed five errors — tied with third baseman Alex Bregman for the team lead — which also doesn’t help Story’s case, considering the Red Sox lead the American League in defensive miscues (43).
Story continues below advertisement
It’s only been 57 games so far, but Boston has quickly sunk to fourth place in the division at 27-31, nine games behind the first-place New York Yankees.
Story has slashed .218/.263/.318 with six home runs, three doubles and 21 RBIs, ranking fifth in MLB with 67 total strikeouts. Still, the Red Sox aren’t counting Story out yet. Boston is sticking with Story as its everyday shortstop and manager Alex Cora feels he’s begun to show signs of a potential turnaround.
“I’ve seen some trends the last two games and I feel good about it,” Cora said, per McAdam. “He’s been able to get behind the fastball. He’s had a lot of 3-and-2 counts the last few days. Those are good signs. Now, it’s a matter of hopefully we can cash in and get him going.”
Boston suffered a three-game sweep at the hands of the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday to extend its losing streak to a season-high five games. Story went 2-for-11 in the series with three strikeouts and although he put the ball in play more frequently, the at-bats were more often rally killers than productive trips to the plate.
Story continues below advertisement
There’s no doubt the Red Sox need much more from Story moving forward.
“It’s hard,” Story said. “There kind of becomes a time where you’re like. ‘Alright man, you’ve got to make an adjustment and you tried to fix your swing.’ It’s about realizing that my swing is my swing, my mind is clear, and I’m on the attack and I’m feeling like an athlete. And the swing will come out as it should. But it’s not easy.”
Ever since the season opened up over eight weeks ago, the Red Sox have struggled to break away from .500 baseball. It’ll take a massive turnaround, albeit with plenty of time left on the campaign, for the team to avoid its fourth straight postseason miss.
Story, a leader in the clubhouse, too, needs to flip the switch and figure it out.
Story continues below advertisement
