Trevor Story is still waiting to show the Red Sox who he really is.
The former Rockies All-Star and Silver Slugger made his first trip back to Coors Field on Monday since he signed a six-year, $140 million contract with Boston ahead of the 2022 season.
In the time since that mega-deal, Story’s been injury-riddled: He played only 94 games in 2022 due to hand and foot issues. Then, Tommy John surgery limited him to 43 games last year. And this season, another blow: Left shoulder surgery after Story hurt himself diving for a ball in the eighth game of the season.
“There’s been a lot of challenging times,” Story said ahead of Boston’s three-game series against Colorado. “This (shoulder fracture) at the beginning of the year was definitely the toughest thing I’ve had to go through on the baseball field. It kind of broke my spirit a little bit, but also in that sense too, it gave me a different kind of perspective and I had to draw on the strength it takes to get back from a place like that.
“… I haven’t got off on the best foot with injuries to start these first three years, and when I have played, I haven’t felt like myself. I know the type of player I am and I’m excited to show that, and I’m still confident I can do that.”
After blasting 158 homers in six seasons with Colorado while emerging as one of the best defensive and powerful shortstops in the league, including 37 dingers in 2018 and 35 in ’19, Story only has 19 total homers for the Red Sox.
But sporting a significant beard, backward cap and sleeveless red shirt during Monday’s pregame, Story didn’t appear to be carrying the weight of a player who has yet to live up to expectations in Beantown. With energy in his step, he took grounders at shortstop and ran sprints in the outfield. He made handshake rounds during batting practice with some of his old friends in purple. He smiled while messing around with his two young sons in the grass off the third base line.
While describing himself as more than halfway recovered from the shoulder injury that was feared to be season-ending, Story didn’t rule out a return to the Red Sox lineup late in the year.
“We’re going to be smart about it, not do anything reckless, and I’m going to listen to my body because it was a pretty traumatic injury,” Story said. “But we’ve created a lot of momentum so I’m feeling good about that… and I’m not wasting a minute trying to make that (comeback in 2024) happen.”
Story, who rejoined the Red Sox during their weekend series at Dodger Stadium, spent the past few months rehabbing in Los Angeles. He still hasn’t started swinging yet, but there is optimism within the Red Sox organization that Story might be able to fulfill his 2024 return and finally start to be the slugging shortstop Boston saw glimpses of in spring training.
“Obviously it hasn’t been perfect since we got him,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “But at one point, it will be perfect.”
On the Rockies’ side, those who knew him as the True Story of old are hopeful Cora is correct.
Colorado manager Bud Black said Story’s “still got a lot of good baseball ahead of him.” Friend and former teammate Charlie Blackmon said he hopes “he gets back to his form pretty quick.”
As much as Story is looking forward, he took time on Monday to look back at his time in Colorado. The 31-year-old said the end of the 2018 season remains his fondest memories with the Rockies — a late-season stretch that featured a three-homer game from him at Coors Field, Colorado going toe-to-toe with the Dodgers in the NL West, and the franchise’s last playoff win in an extra-innings wild card victory over the Cubs at Wrigley Field.
By the time Story’s Colorado tenure wound to a close in 2021, the shortstop was the talk of the trade deadline. His desire to play for a contender led him to Boston despite the Rockies making an attempt to re-sign him in the offseason. Colorado received a compensatory pick for that, which they used on yet-to-debut outfielder Sterlin Thompson.
“I had crazy emotions (at the 2021 trade deadline)… I thought a trade was going to happen,” Story said. “There was obviously some mutual interest (in re-signing), but I felt like for me it was time to start a new chapter somewhere else, and Boston is where I felt like home.”
The Red Sox entered Monday’s series opener 6.5 games back of the Orioles in the AL East and one game out of the wild card chase. The Rockies, meanwhile, remain on track for a second straight 100-loss season.
