Trevor Story and the Red Sox continue to roll
What a difference a few short weeks can make. The Red Sox may still be in fourth place and nowhere near first place, but that’s not the goal right now. We’re looking at three Wild Card opportunities and Boston is more than capable of snagging one, especially with the way they’re playing. Speaking of a few weeks making a difference, Trevor Story has gone from getting boo’d at Fenway Park to be one of the hottest hitters in all of baseball, and he’s just getting started.
The Trevor Story Revenge Tour has been one hell of a sight to see. He went from being a damn near liability at the plate to seeing beachballs coming from the mound. There was a portion of the fanbase that was ready to write Story off before he could even get his uniform dirty.
Some are angry he got a good contract over Xander Bogaerts, and others were upset he didn’t come in hitting 1.000 with four homers every night. Welp, they can sit down and shut up.
Story heard your boos, he read the negative columns, and he’s turned that into fuel to absolutely crush opposing pitchers. Thanks to his run that earned him AL Player of the Week, and this stretch in Chicago, he has his average up to .232 and OPS to a .776.
Both are still well below his career marks, but they’re climbing and they’re climbing fast. He’s now one of the more reliable bats in the lineup and he’s also backing that up with his improved defense at second base.
Many of the early season hiccups seem to be out of his system as he’s warmed up at the plate and he no longer makes mistakes at his new position. Now, that doesn’t mean he’s perfect as we all know errors and strikeouts happen, but the Trevor going into tonight’s game is a night and day difference from the guy we saw even at the beginning of the month.
Spring training was already short for everyone but he had even less time thanks to signing late, going on paternity leave, and getting food poisoning. Now he’s finally getting loose and is probably hitting where he would be around Opening Day in a normal year when he had a full spring training to shake off the winter rust.
He currently sits third in all of baseball in RBI at 37, just behind Jose Ramirez (43) and Pete Alonso (41). Bet you didn’t think that was a possibility two weeks ago, did ya? Story has also been flexing his muscle by launching a homer it seems like every night. I guess he can do plenty of damage outside of Coors Field after all.
In his last seven games, Big Trev is hitting to the tune of .345/.394/.1.069 with 10 hits, 7 homers, and 21 RBI. Now he’s going to get a chance to really put a stamp on the early part of this season as the Orioles come to Fenway for five games in four days. His white-hot bat against a mediocre pitching staff just feels like a recipe for fireworks.
The Red Sox are rolling and are taking advantage of this stretch of schedule that has them facing middle of the road to bad teams. Having Story’s bat wake up at this time couldn’t be more perfect as he’s been a driving force in this offense. If he continues to rake at this level while the rest of the lineup is also contributing, we’re about to see a run for the squad that should excite even the biggest of detractors.
It’s been a blast watching Trevor figure things out with his new team and not only gel with a lineup that was already pretty tight, but become a part of the culture in that clubhouse. For me, the best part of this run for him is the fact that you can tell he’s having fun again.
The beginning of the season was dreadful for him and the Red Sox and you could see it on his face when he wasn’t playing well, those days are long gone now and it’s back to playing ball with his buddies. I hope Baltimore is ready, The Trevor Story Revenge Tour is about to add a few more dates to the list.