Article: Trevor Story Makes History by Joining 20/20 Club

[Jordan Leandre]

On Saturday, Boston Red Sox shortstop Trevor Story eclipsed the 20-homer plateau for the sixth time in his major league career, taking a Will Warren sinker to the opposite field in Boston's 12-1 drubbing of the archrival New York Yankees.

 

In doing so, the 32-year-old became the third Red Sox shortstop ever to hit 20 home runs and steal 20 bases in a single season, joining Nomar Garciaparra in 1997 and John Valentin in 1995. Story also became the 11th different player across 14 individual seasons in team history to achieve that feat.

When former Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Bloom signed Story to a six-year deal ahead of the 2022 season, this kind of production almost seemed like the bare minimum. To Story's credit, he was on pace for 20/20 with 16 homers and 13 steals across 94 games in his debut season in Boston. Unfortunately, that had been his Red Sox career-high in volume through three years.

Obviously, 2023 was a lost year when it was deemed he needed elbow surgery; while he provided elite shortstop defense for 43 games that year, he was a massive negative at the plate. And 2024 was just sheer heartbreak, as he fractured his glenoid rim in his left shoulder and played just 26 games.

Perhaps entering 2025, fans were optimistic he'd be both productive and healthy, but it sort of mirrored the "1% chance, 99% faith" meme you see across sports social media. And yet, across 126 games, Story has a .261 batting average with 2.6 fWAR and a team-leading 82 runs batted in. He also leads the team with 22 stolen bases and is now just one home run shy of 200 for his career.

The Red Sox desperately needed average-at-worst offense and a stabilizing force defensively out of Story given the influx of youth set to join the roster throughout the season. Overall, he's done that to the tune of a 98 wRC+ and zero defensive runs saved, but it's felt, and largely looked, a lot better than that.

On June 1, he was slashing .216/.260/.326 with a 58 wRC+ and had pretty much all of Red Sox Nation praying to see the news he'd been designated for assignment. So, even though his wRC+ ranks outside the top 110 of 153 qualifying hitters, it's safe to call this an impressive turnaround for Story at the very least.

Seeing how over it was for him in May, where he was a proverbial lock to go 0-for-4 with multiple strikeouts, for him to make team history -- against the Yankees of all teams -- is nothing short of a feather-in-the-cap moment. It's gotten to the point where his opt-out is a fascinating sub-plot to the impending offseason for CBO Craig Breslow.

With about 30 games remaining, the Red Sox now sit as the primary threat Toronto in the American League East. While rookie outfielder Roman Anthony appears better than advertised, young teams count on their veterans to lead them to the finish line and make the postseason. While Story isn't alone, as Alex Bregman and Nathaniel Lowe have World Series rings in their trophy cases at home, the team really feels the ebbs and flows of his performance. 

Can Story make a run at 25 homers and 25 steals? If so, he'd be just the third different Red Sox to ever do it, joining Mookie Betts (2016 and 2018) and Jacoby Ellsbury (2011).

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[moonslav59]

Maybe he can hit 25/25. He'd be our 4th to do that!

Top Sox SB/HR seasons

39/32 Ellsbury '11

34/21 Duran '24

30/32 Betts '18

27/20 Burks '87

26/31 Betts '17

26/24 Betts '16

26/21 Pedroia '11

23/40 Yaz '70

22/25 Jensen '54 and 20/27 in '59

22/30 Nomar '97

20/27 Valentin '95

22/20 Story '25

20-20 Beni in '17

My favorite childhood player was Tommy Harper, who once hit 31 homers and stole 38 bases for the Brewers before being traded to the Sox. He stole 25, 54 (led league in '73), 28 and 26 in his 4 seasons, but never topped 17 HRs, those years or 18 in any other career seasons.

 

[Yaz Fan Since 67]

Please let me be wrong on Trevor Story.  

Please let me be wrong on Trevor Story.

Please let me be wrong on Trevor Story.  

[moonslav59]

2 hours ago, Yaz Fan Since 67 said:

Please let me be wrong on Trevor Story.  

Please let me be wrong on Trevor Story.

Please let me be wrong on Trevor Story.  

Nobody really got "Story right."

When we got him, we knew he was a great defensive SS with massive home and away splits. I remember saying we should count on him reaching his away norm numbers, until he starts aging.

From 2016 to 2021, his away numbers were this per 650

.241 27  72 w 24 SBs (.310/.442/.752)

His 2025 season adjusted to 650:

.260  25  104 w 28 SBs (.307/.427/.735)

This is who we paid for and should have expected. Those damn injuries did him in for most of his first 3 seasons. Here are his numbers from '22-'23. Note: his PAs were about a full season at 670.

.232  21  90 w 29 SBs (.296/.397/.693) 

These numbers are not too far off from that "norm" I spoke of, earlier, and you have to figure he was shaking off some rust in many of those PAs.

His career w BOS per 650

.244  22  90 w 28 SBs (.301/.411/.711) almost exactly his road numbers w COL!!!

 

[sk7326]

The Trevor Story contract has been rough - but it's almost entirely due to injury.  Well, that and a plummeting walk rate.

But this year - he is a 3 win player, which would have been kind of okay (a loss contractwise but not a disaster) if that could have been the norm.

[Yaz Fan Since 67]

23 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

Nobody really got "Story right."

When we got him, we knew he was a great defensive SS with massive home and away splits. I remember saying we should count on him reaching his away norm numbers, until he starts aging.

From 2016 to 2021, his away numbers were this per 650

.241 27  72 w 24 SBs (.310/.442/.752)

His 2025 season adjusted to 650:

.260  25  104 w 28 SBs (.307/.427/.735)

This is who we paid for and should have expected. Those damn injuries did him in for most of his first 3 seasons. Here are his numbers from '22-'23. Note: his PAs were about a full season at 670.

.232  21  90 w 29 SBs (.296/.397/.693) 

These numbers are not too far off from that "norm" I spoke of, earlier, and you have to figure he was shaking off some rust in many of those PAs.

His career w BOS per 650

.244  22  90 w 28 SBs (.301/.411/.711) almost exactly his road numbers w COL!!!

 

While I agree with most of this I anticipated a right handed hitter at Fenway would result in a bump from his road numbers. 

[moonslav59]

21 hours ago, sk7326 said:

The Trevor Story contract has been rough - but it's almost entirely due to injury.  Well, that and a plummeting walk rate.

But this year - he is a 3 win player, which would have been kind of okay (a loss contractwise but not a disaster) if that could have been the norm.

His road OBP w COL was .310. It's .307, this year and .301, overall w the Sox.