‘I felt like a kid out there again’: Trevor Story homers in first rehab game with Sea Dogs
Story had a strong outing in his first game since undergoing elbow surgery in January.
Trevor Story gave the Red Sox a reason to be excited in his first rehab game since he had elbow surgery in January.
The veteran middle infielder went 1-for-2 with a walk with Double-A Portland on Friday. His lone hit was a big one: a massive shot over the left fence at Hadlock Field for a three-run home run in the fifth inning to give the Sea Dogs a 6-1 lead in the fifth inning.
Story didn’t only make highlight plays with his bat. He also played shortstop for the first time since 2021 after exclusively playing second base last season.
With Marcelo Mayer moving to third base, Story showed he still has the range and arm needed to play short on a play in the third when he went to his right and was able to gun down the baserunner at first.
Story’s day ended following his fifth-inning home run, when he was pulled as planned. He expressed gratitude when speaking to reporters after putting on a good showing in his first game since September of last season.
“It was kind of surreal, playing in a real game,” Story said. “It’s been a long time coming, I feel like. You put in a lot of work to get to this point. Still not done, but definitely a big step in the right direction.
“I felt like a kid out there again, competing. I’ve been looking forward to that for a long time.”
Hitting home runs certainly isn’t a surprise to Story. He slugged at least 24 of them in each of the six seasons he was with the Rockies (outside of the COVID-shortened 2020 season) and hit 16 in 94 games with the Red Sox last year.
Story could sense one coming in Friday’s game after he flew out to left field earlier. He worked the count full in his fifth-inning at-bat before belting one over the fence.
“I felt like I was seeing the ball well and getting some good swings off,” Story said. “Made the adjustment there at the end, and yeah, homers are always good.”
Obviously, the big concern around Story is how his arm is holding up over seven months following his operation. The kind of surgery might have been unfamiliar to some as he opted to go for an internal brace surgery instead of Tommy John surgery to repair the UCL in his right elbow. An internal brace surgery allows for a quicker rehab process and Story felt just fine after his first game.
“It feels great,” Story said of his arm. “We’ve been doing a lot of trying to simulate game-like throws. That’s my bread and butter, kind of throwing on the run like that. So got two balls like that today to kind of break the ice.”
While Story got off to a good start and is feeling well, his return to the majors isn’t happening for a bit. The plan is for him to follow his usual spring training routine to get ready for the season: 20 games and 50 at-bats.
However, Story implied that he could return a bit sooner than the timeline suggests.
“We’re kind of in the thick of a race right now so that could change things,” Story said. “But I think when I feel comfortable timing-wise and all things included to go back, then we will. I think we’ve done a lot of work to try to cut that timeline down as I’m playing these games. So I feel good about that. Obviously, today was a good step.”
The Red Sox could certainly use Story’s help. He was their primary plan at shortstop following Xander Bogaerts’s departure last offseason. But the surgery delayed that, and Boston has played musical chairs at shortstop all season long as a result.
Despite some inconsistent and sometimes poor play at short, the Red Sox have hung in the thick of things in the playoff race. Entering Saturday, they’re 2.5 games out of the final wild-card spot in the American League.
Story is starting to feel like he’s getting close to making his big-league return, though he recognizes it’s still a step-by-step process.
“Another step in this whole progression that we have,” Story said. “It’s been seven months since surgery. It’s felt really long at times. I feel like now we’re kind of to the point where a lot of the fun stuff happens.”
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