Red Sox ‘Blown Away’ By Star Trevor Story This Offseason

The Boston Red Sox have spent the vast majority of this offseason adding pitching depth and trying to bolster their starting rotation.

But the starting nine can’t be forgotten, either.

Outside of trading for Tyler O’Neill and Vaughn Grissom, the Red Sox haven’t made many changes to their lineup. Alex Verdugo no longer is a part of it after Boston shipped him to the New York Yankees and a key cog like Justin Turner along with Adam Duvall are still unsigned on the free-agent market.

It leaves questions for the Red Sox, but they feel like they have a pretty big answer to them in the form of Trevor Story, who missed over 100 games last season due to elbow surgery

“(Hitting coach) Pete Fatse saw Trevor in person and was blown away,” manager Alex Cora told The Boston Globe’s Peter Abraham. “He has his strength back and is hitting the ball again.”

Story didn’t see the field with the Red Sox until Aug. 8 last season and then struggled at the plate, batting .203 with a .566 OPS to go along with three home runs, 14 RBIs and 10 stolen bases in 43 games.

His first season with the Red Sox wasn’t incredibly productive, either. After a slow start, he went on a torrid stretch in mid-May before missing time yet again due to injury. He finished the 2022 campaign hitting .238 with 16 home runs and 66 RBIs.

But a healthy offseason could be what Story needed to get back on track. The Red Sox will be counting on the 31-year-old tremendously to provide an offensive spark on a game-to-game basis.

It’s something Story is capable of, but hasn’t shown yet during his time with the Red Sox. And if what Cora said ends up coming to fruition, Story could be looking at his first All-Star season this year since 2019.