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The Boston Red Sox have seized a playoff spot thanks to a second-half surge from their roster, as surprising as some of those performances might be.
Most surprising has been the collective ability to put up enough runs to win games without Rafael Devers on the roster, after the franchise slugger was suddenly traded away to the San Francisco Giants. But some individuals have stepped up in big ways as well.
After slashing just .255/.340/.394 and dealing with significant injury last year, veteran shortstop Trevor Story has slashed .305/.349/.542 for the Red Sox since June 7 as the team has rattled off a .660 winning percentage in that time. The performance is particularly noteworthy given that Story seemed in danger of a long-term benching amid some struggles to start the year.
He slashed just .138/.199/.392 between late April and early June, but manager Alex Cora kept him in the daily lineup anyway. When asked about his faith in Story, Cora noted that he should have lost his job had he given up on the shortstop.
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“You gotta trust players,” Cora said, according to Christopher Smith of MassLive. “He’s been hurt. So to give up on a bad month for a player, then I should be home, actually, because we’re in the business of trusting players and pushing them to be great.”
Story has rewarded Cora’s faith, but it should be noted that the veteran was going through more than just a bad month. Since joining the Red Sox three years ago, he hadn’t reached 100 games in any season until this year and his offensive numbers were all in decline since his All-Star seasons with the Colorado Rockies.
Though there were some legitimate reasons to turn the page on the shortstop position this season, Cora saw something in Story that kept him from doing so. And now his team is poised for a return to the playoffs as a result.
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