In the middle of a good start, the Boston Red Sox are in a hurry after their starting shortstop Trevor Story got a fractured glenoid bone in his left shoulder.
The two-time All-Star and Silver Slugger injured his shoulder in a game on April 5 against the Los Angeles Angels, while diving for a ground ball hit by Mike Trout.
Craig Breslow, Chief Baseball Officer for the Red Sox, told Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com on April 9 that Story is set to undergo surgery and miss at least six months.
“After discussing with our medical staff more, confirming a second opinion and Trevor’s decision to go forward, we had talked about some concern over his bony structure,” Breslow said. “He’s got a fracture of the glenoid rim, so he’ll have surgery on Friday to fix that.”
Story’s timeline will start at six months.
But Breslow acknowledged that’s a ballpark estimation. No pun intended.
“What we’re looking at is probably somewhere in the neighborhood of six months,” Breslow told Cotillo. “It’s difficult to speculate specifically beyond that, but you can do the math there.”
Six months recovery following an April 13 surgery would put the starting shortstop’s return somewhere around October.
So, unless there's an unexpected World Series run for Boston, and a miraculous recovery for Story, that’s it for him in 2024.
Boston’s shortstop was batting .226/.294/.617 with four RBIs on seven hits through seven games this season.
Similar to his first two seasons in Beantown, Trevor Story’s 2024 season ends disappointingly.
Story Has Been Mostly Injured for Boston Tenure
Most importantly, this raises questions about Trevor Story’s future with the Red Sox.
He’s played just 145 games in three seasons with the team, whom he signed a six-year, $140 million deal with in 2022.
In 2022, it was a hairline fracture in his right wrist. In 2023, he had right elbow surgery to stabilize a ligament in his throwing elbow.
He expressed his frustrations at the latest injury with Kyle Glaser of MLB.com postgame.
“Just frustrating,” Story said. “It’s not fun getting injured. Kind of a freak thing, but yeah, gonna miss a little time for sure.”
A little time indeed.
What now for the Red Sox?
Boston’s Plans for Shortstop
Boston doesn’t know if they have another Trevor Story sitting in the dugout.
But they’ll try and find one, platooning David Hamilton and Romy Gonzalez at shortstop.
Breslow and the Red Sox aren’t going to turn away from their development-first focus.
“Right now, we’re committed to giving our internal options a chance,” Breslow told MassLive.com. “It works out really well in terms of having right-handed and left-handed platoon options at both middle infield positions.”
Hamilton, who’s appeared in only one game for Boston this season hit a home run in his first 2024 at-bat on April 7.
He’s the 20th-ranked prospect in the Red Sox farm system.
Gonzalez, who’s appeared in 86 career games with the Chicago White Sox since 2021, was called up from Triple-A Worcester following the Story injury on April 8.
He’s slashing .222/.239/.361 with five home runs and 27 RBIs for his career.
There’s also a player who plays in the middle of the outfield, Ceddanne Rafaela, who agreed to stay with the team for an additional eight years on April 8.
But he’s probably more of a backup plan.
Despite the bad luck for the Boston Red Sox, or even worse luck for Trevor Story, this doesn’t mean the end of 2024 for the team.
And for some young potential players, it could mark the start of their career in the major leagues.
