Trevor Story Voices Confidence About Future Role With Red Sox

Trevor Story exclusively played shortstop in his six seasons with the Colorado Rockies before moving to second base with the Boston Red Sox in 2022.

So, even though Story thrived at his new position last year, he’s looking forward to returning to his natural home once he’s activated from the injured list.

“I just truly believe I can (play shortstop) at a high level,” Story recently told Rob Bradford on the “Baseball Isn’t Boring” podcast, as transcribed by WEEI.com. “If I didn’t I think (that), I would stay over at second. I really do know I have a lot of good years in me over there at short. I’m not ready to jump off that position when I feel I can do it at a high level.”

Story was a strong defensive shortstop for much of his Colorado tenure, even ranking in the 99th percentile in Outs Above Average in 2019. He ranked third among qualified Major League Baseball shortstops that season (behind Javier Báez and Paul DeJong) with 21 Defensive Runs Saved.

Story’s advanced metrics plummeted in 2020 and 2021. And the Red Sox moved him to second base last season, his first with Boston, because they still had Xander Bogaerts deployed at shortstop.

“I just truly believe I can do it at a high level.”

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Trevor Story on playing shortstop for the Red Sox

Now, the circumstances have changed (again). Boston desperately needs help at shortstop, with Bogaerts leaving in free agency over the offseason and Kiké Hernández struggling to fill the everyday role in Story’s absence.

“The positions are different. Same, but different,” Story said. “As I have taken way more ground balls at short, my more natural position, I feel my legs working really good, just having the momentum through the ball. At second, you can be more of a goalie style. There is not much big footwork. Throwing on the run. That’s my biggest attribute, I think, is my athleticism, so I’m trying to use that as much as I can. When I do that, things line up.”

Story has yet to appear in a game this season while recovering from elbow surgery. There’s also a chance he could serve as a designated hitter immediately upon returning from the IL — to facilitate a quicker comeback — but it’s clear the two-time All-Star is motivated to silence those who doubt his ability to seamlessly shift back to the other side of the bag.

Story recently indicated he’s eyeing a return to shortstop “sometime in August,” at which point he’ll be under a microscope, largely, again, because he adjusted so well to second base last season.