Boston Red Sox slugger Trevor Story returned to Fenway Park on Monday to take some grounders at shortstop and provide updates on his status as he continues his comeback journey.
Story has been sidelined since the offseason when he received right elbow surgery. Since then, he has consistently ramped up his efforts to try and get back to Boston and help this team pursue a postseason spot.
“Arm is feeling really good and my whole body is in a great spot, so overall I’m feeling really good about it," Story told reporters on Monday, as transcribed by MLB.com's Ian Browne. "I want to get back out there as quickly as possible, but I have to respect a lot of parts of this process and make sure we do it right first.”
There is an added urgency for Story's return with the abysmal play of current starting shortstop Kiké Hernández in the field. Hernández registered his Major League Baseball-leading 14th error on Monday night. Lots of these errors this season have directly led to Sox opponents scoring runs, and have potentially cost the team a handful of wins. Those wins could be the difference in this team playing meaningful or completely useless games this September.
Hernández also hasn't helped the Sox much offensively either. Despite a couple of big hits over the weekend in the Bronx, Hernández is still hitting .229 on the season and has the worst-qualified OPS on the Red Sox at .656.
So when will Trevor Story be back with the Sox? “(July) is a real possibility for DH,” Story said. “I think that's as early as we've looked at it. That’s obviously exciting to me. To be able to just impact the team with my bat is something I feel like I can do, so we'll make that decision soon.”
Even if Story is only helping at the plate when he returns, that could go a long way for this team. Entering Monday, the Red Sox had scored just 3.4 runs per game in June. For comparison they scored 5.5 runs a game in April, and 4.6 runs per game in May. The offense needs as much help as it can get and Story should be exactly what the doctor ordered.
Now this team just needs to stay close enough to that last Wild Card spot over the next month. Do I think they will actually do that? Yes...of course. Maybe.
More must-reads: