Boston Red Sox shortstop Trevor Story will undergo season-ending surgery to repair a fracture in his shoulder, chief baseball officer Craig Breslow told reporters Tuesday.
Story, 31, is expected to be sidelined for six months after the surgery to repair a fracture of his glenoid, which is scheduled for Friday, Breslow said.
“Difficult to speculate beyond that,” Breslow said before Tuesday’s home opener against the Baltimore Orioles. “But you can kind of do the math there.”
Story wore a sling when he was introduced as part of the team’s ceremonies and fought back tears when he spoke postgame.
“I’m frustrated. I don’t really understand it,” he said.
“We’ve got to move on,” manager Alex Cora said after Tuesday’s 7-1 loss. “I know it sounds hard, but this is the nature of the game. We’re going to miss him, yeah. As a leader, as a player as a base runner, as a hitter. But we have to move on. Whoever is going to play short that day, just play up to who you are. Don’t try to be Trevor Story. There’s only one of those.”
The Red Sox placed Story on the injured list late last week after he dislocated his left shoulder while making a diving stop on a hit by the Angels‘ Mike Trout on Friday night.
“You always try to be optimistic that it went out and came back in,” Story said. “It was more serious than we had hoped for. Hard to imagine really.”
Before the injury, Story had started each of Boston’s first eight games this season, finally getting back to normal after two campaigns filled with injury woes since he left the Colorado Rockies for a six-year, $140 million deal with the Red Sox in March 2022.
Story played in just 94 games in 2022 after missing significant time with injuries to his right hand and left foot. He appeared in only 43 games last season after recovering from major offseason surgery to repair a torn UCL.
Story was hitting .226 with 4 RBIs this season and has a .227 average and .681 OPS in two-plus seasons with the Red Sox. A two-time All-Star while with the Rockies, he is a career .265 hitter with 177 home runs and 534 RBIs.
“Very significant,” Breslow said of Story’s loss. “Not going to hide from what he’s meant to this team defensively and had full confidence offensively that he was going to contribute as well with what he was able to do in spring training. I think fortunately he’s emerged as a leader of this team and there’s still going to be a way for him to positively impact it.
“Unfortunately, it just doesn’t seem like it’s going to be on the field right now.”
While Story is out, Cora said, the plan is to platoon players at shortstop and second base.
“I think right now we’re committed to giving the internal options a chance,” Breslow said. “We’ll give this some run. … It makes sense to let this play out a bit and we’ll continue to evaluate.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Source: www.espn.com