Trevor Story's Offensive Output Places Him Among Red Sox Greats

Welcome to part three of my Trevor Story Apology Tour. If you missed my open letter to the shortstop, or where I said that him opting in would be a good thing, feel free to read them here and here, respectively. Today though, I wanted to highlight just how incredible of a season Story is having now that he’s fully healthy in Boston. He scuffled early in the season, but since being given a few days off to rediscover himself, Trevor Story has been one of, if not the best hitter on the team. There are flaws in his offensive approach—some that still drive fans insane when they appear—but he’s been fairly consistent at the plate and a guaranteed runner in scoring position when he steals bases.

Story currently leads the team in both home runs and stolen bases, with 24 and 28, respectively. Having one person lead the team in those two major offensive categories was interesting enough that I decided to dig back through the last 50 years of club history and see just how often that had been done. Before Story, it had been done five times by a Red Sox player since 1975. Let’s take a look at how Story’s season stacks up against the other five legendary names on this list.

To set our bar, here is how Trevor Story is performing this season (as of 9/13/25): .261/.308/.440 with 24 HR, 28 SB, 91 RBIs, 103 wRC+, 3.1 WAR, 27.4% strikeout, 5.2% walk, and a .331 BABIP.

The most recent example of one person on the Red Sox leading in both home runs and stolen bases was back in 2017, when Mookie Betts ended the season with 24 home runs and 26 stolen bases. Betts delivered 102 RBIs that season to go along with a 107 wRC+, 4.6 WAR, a .268 BABIP, and an 11.1 K% and 10.8 BB%. His slash line for the '17 season was .264/.344/.459. On the surface, Story is set up for a similar season in '25. As long as he stays healthy, Story should hit more homers this season, and has already stolen more bases. Where Story can’t compete with Betts, though, is in strikeout and walk rate. Anyone who has watched Story knows he’s going to go down swinging more often than not, and he struggles to work walks at a decent clip. A point-and-a-half jump in WAR is likely unattainable as a result (also because of Betts' sterling defense in the outfield).

Following Betts, we have another outfielder, Jacoby Ellsbury, in 2011. Ellsbury slashed .321/.376/.552 that season to go along with 32 home runs, 39 stolen bases, 105 RBIs, a 150 wRC+, 9.5 WAR, 13.4 K%, 7.1 BB%, and a .336 BABIP. Ellsbury finished second in AL MVP voting to Justin Verlander that year. 2011 was the year that Ellsbury established himself as a premier center fielder. There’s absolutely zero chance Story gets anywhere close here. Ellsbury was a far more disciplined hitter than Story, and the numbers reflect that. Ellsbury tore the cover off the ball that year, and even though Story has been dependable, his .261 average is a far cry from .321. All that being said this version of Story is what the Red Sox were hoping to get when they originally signed him; comparing his campaign to one of the greatest regular seasons in franchise history is a bit unfair.

After Ellsbury, we have to jump back to 2000 when Carl Everett finished the season with 34 home runs and 11 stolen bases to lead the team. He slashed .300/.373/.587 with 108 RBIs while posting a 135 wRC+, 4.7 WAR, 20.1 K%, 9.3 BB%, and a .325 BABIP. In terms of strikeout percentage, this is the closest we’re going to get to Story’s current run. You can cherry pick stats to compare Everett and Story, but on the whole, Story’s current season isn’t as much of an offensive juggernaut as Everett was in 2000. Sure, Story is lapping him on stolen bases, but that era of Red Sox baseball wasn’t known to be loaded with speed like the current version of the team is. Story may catch him in RBIs though; 108 isn’t unattainable if Story keeps mashing homers for the remainder of the season.

Ellis Burks in 1990 checks in next on the list. Burks slashed .296/.349/.486 with 21 home runs, nine stolen bases, and 89 RBIs with a 127 wRC+, 3.3 WAR, 12.8 K%, 7.5 BB%, and .314 BABIP. While a drastically different game was played in 1990, this is the lowest stolen base number we have on this list, although not by much. It’s tough to make comparisons here because Burks’ slash line will be unattainable for Story this season, but you could argue this version of Story is far more valuable now. Story’s WAR could creep up above 3.3, and his BABIP is higher than that of Burks, though you’d love to see Burks’ strikeout rate swap with Story’s.

Finally, we must jump back 50 years to Jim Rice in 1975. That year, Rice slashed .309/.350/.491 with 22 home runs, 10 stolen bases, 102 RBIs, a 126 wRC+, 2.9 WAR, 19.9% K%, 5.9% BB%, and a .355 BABIP. We’re talking incredibly different players here, and a game now that puts far more focus on strength and speed than in 1975, but Story is running a similar walk rate to Rice. Rice is considered one of the best hitters in the history of the team and Trevor Story will (likely) never hold such a distinction, but being in such close company to someone of Rice’s caliber is sure to be a feather in the shortstop's cap. There were reports early in the season that Rice was told to stop talking to hitters in spring training, but Story is doing his best impression on the field this year. While Story has more pop in his bat, Rice was the far more consistent hitter. Working with someone like Rice could push Story into the next tier of hitter next season.

Trevor Story is joining some Red Sox legends with the current path he’s on. Should he continue to hit like he has been, and knock the strikeouts down some, he should finish the season first on the team in both home runs and stolen bases. That’s something no one expected of him going into the season. The Red Sox are hoping to make a deep postseason run this year, and if this version of Trevor Story is sticking around, he is going to be a driving force on offense come October.