Rockies Trevor Story: What Can We Expect In Chapter 2?

The Rockies have the offensive pieces to compete in the NL West. One of those players is shortstop Trevor Story. Can we expect a sequel of his 2016 performance?

Trevor Story began the season as the Colorado Rockies shortstop while Jose Reyes was dealing with a personal matter. The Rockies management and fantasy owners who drafted him were not expecting anything close to what he did. With full recovery expected from his surgery, what can we expected in year 2?

The story started (sorry, I’m going to make a lot of puns) on Opening Day when he went 2-for-6 with two home runs and four RBI. He finished April with 10 homers, 20 RBI, 19 runs scored and a .261/.324/.696 line. Some of those numbers are what players finish their season with.

Chapter one was cut short on July 30 due to a thumb injury. Story would undergo surgery on August 4 and missed the rest of the regular season. Many were optimistic he could return if the Rockies made the playoffs, but that wouldn’t have helped fantasy owners.

He ended his first season with 97 games played, 27 homers, 72 RBI, 67 runs and a .272/.341/.567 line. The only negative to his game was the high strikeout rate. He struck out 130 times, 31.3 percent.

If he can become more patient at the plate, pitchers to throw closer to the plate. Which, in turn, will allow him to hit more and raise his average and on-base percentages.

For the four months he played, Story was the fantasy MVP and could have finished as the National League Rookie of the Year, too.

According to Baseball Reference, if he were to play a full 162 games, Story would have hit 45 home runs, 120 RBI and 112 runs scored.

While I wouldn’t have expected hm to play all 162 games, only three players reached that plateau and nine played in at least 160, anything close to that would have been nice. He far exceeded his value during the time he played.

Story isn’t expected to miss any time next season and will enter the 2017 season with a clean bill of health. He will be the Rockies starting shortstop next season with a lot of value attached to his name. If the team can retain its two power-hitting outfielders (Carlos Gonzalez and Charlie Blackmon) in the offseason, and with Nolan Arenado crushing 40 home runs, Story will have plenty of opportunities to drive in runs and get on base.

With position scarcity no longer a thing for shortstops, there will be plenty of options available late. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t draft Story, but there is a round that he should be selected. You cannot predict that will hit 10 homers in April again. And while it’s a possibility, I wouldn’t want to waste one of my first seven or eight picks on him.

Chapter two has a lot of promise. Let’s just hope we don’t inflate the expectations too much that we feel disappointed with what could be a top-10 season.