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I was really hoping that I wouldn’t have to start writing my essays on Trevor Story’s lack of production for the Boston Red Sox again this season. I didn’t want to highlight his glaring offensive issues, his mounting errors, or the fact that he shouldn’t be anywhere near the number two spot in the lineup ever again. Like clockwork. though, here we are. The Red Sox are underperforming and Trevor Story is right in the center of why.
[Of course, as I write this, he goes off in a 2-for-4 day with a home run and five RBIs. All stats below are from before that performance, but know that he more than doubled his season-long wRC+ from 22 to 48 in that finale agains the Twins. Perhaps I need to chastise him more frequently...]
Going into the series against the Brewers, Alex Cora finally dropped Story from the two hole in the lineup to fifth. Story’s presence behind Roman Anthony in the leadoff spot struck no fear into the hearts of opposing pitchers. In fact, we surmised on the Talk Sox Podcast that having Story hit behind Anthony would only just increase the amount of intentional passes the young slugger would receive this year. Why pitch to someone who has the potential to flip the game on its head with one swing when you could put him on first and throw non-competitive pitches to the guy behind him who will likely swing away at them instead?
Story offered no protection as the number two hitter, so dropping him in the lineup made the most sense. While he was batting second, Story slashed .119/.119/.214 with one home run, two RBIs, zero walks, and a 40.5% strikeout percentage. He posted a -18 wRC+ to go along with a -0.5 fWAR. From April 6-14, though, he hit .290/.294/.355 with 10 RBIs, a 2.9% walk rate, and a 20.6% strikeout rate while posting an 74 wRC+. He worked his first walk of the season on April 11 and had his first multi-hit game on April 12. Moving him down in the lineup seems to have unlocked something for him. There’s less pressure on him hitting in the middle of the order and he seems far more comfortable.
The one thing Story can’t seem to fix though, is the fact that he’s going to swing away on low-and-away sliders. The book has been out on him for awhile now and when push comes to shove, he’s going to see pitches away out of the zone because the opposing pitcher just knows that bat is going fly. Story often looks shocked each time it happens, like he’s somehow expecting a different result. The only shocking thing is that he sees any other pitches besides those sliders when there’s anything at stake and he’s in the box.
Somehow, despite all of that, the biggest hurdle to overcome with Story is on defense. He currently leads the team in errors with four. When a ball is hit to short, you don’t feel great about it. He’s botched some basic grounders by not getting his glove down enough, but more concerning is that he’s making throwing errors that look egregious. They are throws that you expect a major-league shortstop to make, but instead Willson Contreras is left sprawling out on the ground to try and pick a ball in the dirt that’s more than a foot outside of his wingspan. He currently ranks in the bottom half of the league with -1 defensive runs saved and -2 outs above average.
Story is a net-negative with the glove at this stage of his career. What should happen, but likely won’t since Cora has doubled down on Story being the shortstop for the Red Sox, is that Story and Mayer should switch positions. Yes, you still need range at second, but it's a less demanding position coverage-wise. Mayer has proven to be a defensive wizard at any position he’s been asked to play for the team, but he’s a natural shortstop. Getting him to his long-term position sooner than later would likely pay immediate dividends for the team.
Going back to last season, Story has committed 11 errors in his last 34 games at short. He finished the 2025 season ranked third in all of baseball with 19 errors and currently ranks second in total errors this year. If you were watching the series opener against the Twins, you saw Story's lack of defensive profile on display in the bottom of the first inning. You know what turns a bad inning into a terrible inning for a struggling ace like Garrett Crochet? Whatever it was Story was attempting to do here.
The Red Sox need to figure out a solution to the Trevor Story problem sooner than later. Dropping him in the lineup was the first step in the right direction, but there’s still his defensive position that needs to be addressed at some point. Alex Cora is a good manager, and has proven early on this season that he’ll make changes to try and wake his team up. The thing that could put this team over the top is finally taking Story off shortstop and letting him move back to second base. It fully opens the door for Mayer to step into his own at the position he’s going to play long after Story departs the Red Sox.
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