Trevor Story, Red Sox Reliever Taking Strides Together With Injury Recovery

Boston Red Sox shortstop Trevor Story will spend part of his Fourth of July with a bat in hand at Fenway Park.

Red Sox manager Alex Cora told reporters prior to Sunday’s series finale against the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre that Story will take live batting practice on Tuesday. But when Story steps into the batter’s box for the session, he’ll go against a teammate on the mend from an injury as well.

Reliever John Schreiber will square off versus Story with Cora saying the right-hander will throw 25 pitches of live batting practice, per MassLive’s Christopher Smith.

The encounter is a good sign that both Story and Schreiber are progressing from their injuries. Story hasn’t played at all this season as he continues his recovery from an internal bracing procedure he had done on his UCL ligament in his right elbow in January. There’s no definitive timeline yet for his return, but Story said he was aiming to play shortstop sometime in August.

It hasn’t been ruled out that he could be on the field contributing to the Red Sox at some point this month, though. But that would come in an exclusive designated hitter role with Story working his way back to building up his arm strength to play at shortstop.

As for Schreiber, he’s currently on the 60-day injured list due to a right teres major strain he sustained in mid-May. Schreiber was off to another strong start, posting a 2.12 ERA and a 1.294 WHIP while striking out 21 batters in 17 innings.

Nick Pivetta has stepped up in Schreiber’s absence, but getting Schreiber back would provide another sound option for Cora to rely on in the bullpen.