How Trevor Story Overcame ‘Dark Days’ With Red Sox After Injury

Trevor Story has dealt with his share of adversity in three seasons with the Boston Red Sox.

He’s been limited to just 145 games since the beginning of 2022 due to multiple injuries, including elbow surgery in 2023 and shoulder surgery in April that’s expected to sideline him for the remainder of 2024.

The setbacks, understandably, have tested Story’s resolve.

“Those days were tough,” Story told Tom Caron and Alex Speier this week on NESN’s “310 to Left” podcast, looking back at the injury he suffered earlier this season. “Those were some pretty dark days, and I haven’t really felt that type of emotion or those types of feelings really ever. And I think navigating through those and just really being vulnerable a little bit and talking about it and just embracing it. Obviously, I wasn’t in a great mind space as we learned the news, and that doesn’t just go away overnight. It’s been really good to work through those things and, like I said, embrace them, because I feel like if you don’t and you just act like everything’s all good and everything’s roses, then you’re never going to process it. You’ve just got to give it time to work through those things, and I felt really good about that. And I think that’s been something I’ve been able to do a little better removed from the team a little bit.”

Story has been in California of late, working with personal trainers as part of his recovery process. The time away from the team can be challenging, especially with Story really emerging as a clubhouse leader this past offseason, but the 31-year-old seemingly is on an upward trajectory, both physically and mentally.

“There are still dark days,” Story said, “but I think my perspective of baseball means so much to me and my life and my family, and it always has, and when it’s taken away — this is almost two years in a row where I haven’t been able to play like I have for my whole life — you find a way and you find out some things about yourself and you learn things about yourself, that you learn to deal with and you learn to get better in different areas of my life. And I think that’s what I’ve been able to do.”

Story spent six seasons with the Colorado Rockies before signing with Boston as a free agent ahead of the 2022 campaign. He transitioned to second base in his first season with the Red Sox, with Xander Bogaerts then entrenched at shortstop, but he since moved back to his natural position.

The Red Sox’s hope, obviously, is that Story will return in 2025, ready to breathe new life into a team that’s in the midst of establishing a new identity.