The Boston Red Sox ended a four-game losing streak in dramatic fashion on Saturday, coming back from deficits of 5-0 and 6-2 against the Atlanta Braves to win on a walk-off home run by Rafael Devers â the first of his career.
But the game also featured a base hit and a walk by Red Sox shortstop Trevor Story, the Red Sox shortstop now in the fourth year of his six-year, $140 million contract. Both have been rare occurrences over the past month, from the two-time All-Star, who has been mired in a dismal slump over nearly a month.
In an April 21 game against the Chicago White Sox, Story rapped three hits in five at bats, his ninth multi-hit game of the 24 the Red Sox had played to that point. Over the 20 games since then, Story has recorded only one multi-hit game, with two base knocks against the Minnesota Twins on May 2, and only 11 hits in total.
Story’s Slump Drops His Batting Avg. 101 Points
Over that 20-game span, Story has seen his batting average drop from .337 to .236. More importantly, Story’s OPS has plunged from a healthy .894 to a dismal .632.
The Red Sox have won nine and lost 11 since Story’s last three-hit game.
Story’s massive slump has not gone unnoticed. Justin Leger, who covers the Red Sox for NBC Sports Boston, in a report published on Thursday, called Story over the duration of his slump “one of the worst players in baseball.”
According to data compiled by Underdog Fantasy, “Story is the 4th Red Sox player in the Wild Card Era to hit .115 or lower over a 19-game span (min. 80 PA), joining Daniel Nava (2012), Julio Lugo (2007) and John Valentin (1997).” The Wild Card era began in 1994.
“If Story’s struggles continue, the Red Sox may have no choice but to designate him for assignment. Even with more than $50 million remaining on his contract,” Leger wrote.
Designating Story for assignment â removing him from the 40-man roster with the intention of trading or releasing him with a week â would be a drastic measure which seems unlikely to happen, especially given manager Alex Cora’s history of patience with slumping players.
Prior to Saturday’s game, Cora said he would continue to be patient with Story.
âAll the metrics, all the information that we have â the bat speed is there, his hands are where theyâre supposed to be. Everything looks OK,â Cora said, as quoted by Christopher Smith of MassLive. âThe only thing weâre not doing right now is hitting the ball forward.â
Story a Respected Voice in Red Sox Clubhouse
In terms of the advanced metric “weighted runs created plus,” or wRC+ â a measure of how much a player had contributed to his team’s run scoring, in which the average is set at 100 â Story has been not quite the worst, but in fact the second worst player in MLB since his slump began on April 22.
With a wRC+ of -3, Story is only one of two players so bad that he has recorded a negative number over that span. Only centerfielder Brenton Doyle of Story’s former team, the Colorado Rockies, has been worse, posting a wRC+ of -7.
As Legler notes, Story remains one of the most respected players in the Red Sox clubhouse, whose influence has “a immeasurable impact” on his teammates.
“The harsh truth is that impact still doesn’t outweigh Story’s negative output over the last few weeks,” Leger continued. “Whether it’s a DFA or a position switch â first base, perhaps? â a tough decision on Story’s future in Boston seems imminent.”
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