Boston Red Sox shortstop Trevor Story got white-hot in mid-April. Following a 3-for-4 outing on April 21 in what was then the fifth-straight win for the club, Story was hitting .337 with an .894 OPS on the season. With that and Alex Bregman's dominant start, the Red Sox seemed to be ready to take over the AL East. But now, after another brutal loss for Boston, this time to the Braves, Story is indicative of the Red Sox' problems right now.
While starter Brayan Bello rightly took the brunt of the blame for the Red Sox losing 10-4 to Atlanta to drop the series 1-2 and fall back to two games under .500 on Sunday, Story continued what has been one of the most dismal offensive stretches you'll see. He went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts on the day, lowering his average to .230 and his OPS to a paltry .618 on the season. That's right — his OPS has dropped nearly 300 points in less than a month.
Make no mistake, this isn't all that new for Story. When healthy with the Red Sox and even before while he was with the Colorado Rockies, he's long been a streaky hitter. However, with Boston continuing to toil in mediocrity and needing a spark, it's becoming harder for Alex Cora to justify keeping Story in the lineup, especially with the options available to him within the organization.
Red Sox can hardly justify relying on Trevor Story at this point
It's certainly a complicated issue with Story. He's one of the leaders in the clubhouse, leadiing offseason workouts for younger players and helping to shore up the defense — though his defensive metrics have declined from where they once were. Just removing him from the lineup isn't something that Cora could do without strong consideration of the clubhouse dynamics at play.
Having said that, hitting a player with a .618 OPS in the middle of the lineup, often in the No. 5 or 6 spot, isn't tenable. The Red Sox are already continuing to search for first base solutions in the wake of the Triston Casas injury and have been taking a hit offensively because of that. They simply can't afford to have Story being a net negative at the plate when that's the case. And if the previous numbers weren't enough, he has just 11 hits in his 22 games since the aforementioned three-hit day against Chicago, none of which have gone for extra bases. He's also struck out 32 times over that span to only five walks.
What makes it even harder to reasonably consider Story the best option right now is, of course, the presence of top prospect Marcelo Mayer in Triple-A. While he's in consideration to play second base if Kristian Campbell indeed transitions to fill the hole at first base, he could also be at shortstop. He looks more than ready with 40 RBI for Worcester this season along with eight homers and a .794 OPS.
At worst, the Red Sox could platoon the left-handed Mayer with Story to help ease the burden there, especially since most of Story's even minimal recent production has come against lefties. Mayer has improved against lefties this season but it could ease his transition to the majors to face a majority of righties at the next level. It could work out perfectly.
In any case, there has to be some solution to Story's lack of offense right now. Letting him work out of it isn't one of those solutions when a team this talented is 23-25 on the season. The Red Sox need major changes and, while it's not limited to this, they're getting awfully close to having to make a drastic decision with their clubhouse leader and shortstop. If this slump continues to worsen, though, it's impossible to say it wouldn't be justified when it happens.