If there’s one recent play that sums up Trevor Story’s slow slide defensively at shortstop, I’d argue it’s this one from Monday night:
He doesn’t have the range he once did. It’s not so bad that he can’t get to this ball at all, but it’s also slipped enough so that he can’t get to it cleanly and still finish off a highlight reel play.
Let’s stop and think about the situation for a moment because the context is important. Garrett Crochet was already in trouble with two runs in and the bases loaded.
So, in the moment, it felt like a big defensive play to end the inning and keep it 2-0 could have been a huge turning point in an eventual Red Sox win. After all, Crochet was on the mound and he’s capable of throwing a bunch of zeros up after a rough first frame. (Now of course that’s not even close to how things played out, but it’s vital to view how crucial this play felt in the moment.)
So here’s Story, ranging to his left. It’s a tough play, but it’s also one he’s made dozens of times over the years. Only now, he’s lost about a half a step and has to sell out into a full dive to get to the ball. When he does, he’s out of position and can’t really continue the play. But his mind doesn’t accept this. When you combine the magnitude of the moment, the competitiveness of Story as an athlete, and the pride Story possesses knowing he’s made this play so many times before, you get this awkward, atrocious, desperate glove flip to try and complete a potential web gem that instead results in an error and another run.
It’s not only ugly, but it’s also a natural in-the-moment reaction from a guy who has started his descent from the apex position of the infield and knows there’s fresh blood breathing down his neck ready to take the spot.
So this is the point in the article where I’m probably supposed to tell you Marcelo Mayer and Trevor Story should switch positions, but I’m not going to do that. And besides, Dan Secatore already touched on that yesterday, and we like the keep the content as fresh as possible here at Over The Monster.
Instead, I’m here to tell you the current shortstop situation is kind of a mess. On one hand, Marcelo Mayer has already surpassed Trevor Story defensively as a middle infielder in most minds, and that alone should get the conversation started about them switching spots. However, there’s a little problem with going down that rabbit hole: I don’t trust Marcelo Mayer’s ability to stay there from either a durability and offensive standpoint.
Aside from Mayer’s injury history preventing him from ever reaching 100 games played in a season in his career so far, there’s also that fact he’s hitting just .188 with a .572 OPS out of the gate this year. And, unlike Story, who has a track record of getting better as the season wears on, Mayer is a total wild card and is blowing a pretty big opportunity to entrench himself in the middle infield right now. If you go through the list of starting pitchers the Red Sox have faced recently, not only is it a really unimpressive bunch, but they’re also almost exclusively right handed. So if Mayer is struggling to hit these guys, what are his at-bats going to look like when the Sox start to run into lefties or just better quality pitching in general? He needs to start making a noticeable impact on that side of the ball soon to justify his presence in the lineup everyday.
So with that, I circle back around to this being a big mess. Yes, Mayer is a better glove than Story, but when you move Story to second, it should probably be a one way ticket given the sticky nature of moving a veteran off their pedestal, and right now there’s a real risk of pushing Story off the position only to find out that Mayer can’t be at short everyday because his bat is just so unreliable. (Again, him hitting would solve so many problems.) In that scenario where Mayer never finds it, you either have to start yo-yoing Story between both positions, or give Isiah Kiner-Falefa way more starts at shortstop than any team serious about contending should be prepared to do. It’s a card the Red Sox might eventually have to play, but I can see why they’re hesitant to put it on the table right now.
But wait, there’s more!
If the first two and half weeks of the season are any indication of what’s to come, there’s going to be a new character joining Marcelo and Trevor in this story a few months down the line.
If you’re not familiar, this is Franklin Arias, the Red Sox 20-year-old shortstop prospect currently playing for the Double-A Portland Sea Dogs. He’s known more for his glove than his power, but on Tuesday night he knocked one out of the park the other way to right-center field, which certainly got my attention.
Then yesterday, he went deep again!
I think we need to underscore everything that’s happening here. These were not cheap home runs, and not only that, Arias has been putting up his overall numbers in some pretty terrible weather conditions so far this season.
In September of 2024, I asked Roman Anthony what it was like to play in Portland early in the season (they had games snowed out that year), and he went on at length about how much the experience taught him in terms of getting his body ready to play each day in adverse conditions and how he was thankful for learning that because he wants to be able to use it playing games in Boston in late October someday.
In any case, Arias is from Venezuela, so like Anthony, who hails from south Florida, he’s getting “an experience.” And you know what, he’s shown up ready to go and then some. Huge credit him! In an admittedly limited sample size of 31 plate appearances, Arias is batting .542 with a 1.488 OPS on the season. But that only gets more impressive when you consider the Sea Dogs roster as a whole was hitting just .198 with a .645 team OPS entering play on Wednesday. That alone tells me something even though I know these numbers are coming back down to Earth soon.
Arias is the complete outlier on the Portland roster, and given how young he is, we have to account for the possibility that he might be in the process of taking a huge step forward with the bat this spring. If that’s the case, oh boy are we going to have a discussion about the future of shortstop in Boston in a handful of months. Heck, it’s even possible we might be debating between Arias and Mayer at shortstop in Worcester in a couple of months if Mayer doesn’t pull his head out of his tailpipe at the plate soon.
So since I’m diving deep and dreaming way too hard on Arias now, here are the fielding, arm and summation notes on Arias’ Sox Prospects page: (Go and check them out if you’re even mildly interested in the Red Sox farm system)
Field: Smooth actions and soft hands. Has shown solid range and is comfortable playing all angles when charging the ball. Confident fielder who can make difficult plays look closer to routine. Athleticism plays better in the field and lack of foot speed does not show. Consistent fielder with a good chance to stick at shortstop. Potential above-average defender.
Arm: Above-average arm strength. Capable of making all the throws from shortstop.Summation: Potential everyday regular at shortstop. Ceiling of a quality regular who provides value with his glove and contact ability. Hit tool is a standout tool, but lack of power and speed limits upside. Defensive profile provides him a solid floor. High baseball IQ; actively seeks to learn more and improve. Needs to get stronger and continue to physically mature to reach his potential.
I bring all this up because I want to underscore that until this month, most of the excitement for Arias was centered around his glove and not his bat. If that suddenly changes — and again, he’s 20 so it’s not the most ridiculous thing in the world for him to just unlock something everybody missed – this would be a total game changer.
Now to be clear, I’m not trying to tell you his 2026 line is real, but you know what does catch my attention? With his performance at the plate yesterday, Arias how has a higher career OPS in the minor leagues overall than Marcelo does, and he’s three years younger. In a weird way, that’s kind of a significant moment given the position they play, how much higher Mayer’s bat was profiled coming up, and the collision course they seem to be on.
So yes, a battle for shortstop is brewing in Boston. I just don’t know if it’s short-term between Mayer and Story, long-term between Mayer and Arias, or if we get some perfect storm scenario where Story hangs on and all three of them converge in the not too distant future.
