Things have not been so great to start the 2022 season for Boston Red Sox infielder Trevor Story.
The former Colorado Rockies slugger was booed by fans at Fenway Park last week after striking out four times in a shutout loss to the L.A. Angels. He’s currently batting .194, has not hit a home run yet and has only driven in 10 runs.
Story did not take questions from the media following the game and instead opted to put in some work in the batting cage. Some covering the team felt like the team’s recent big free agent signing was ducking interviews.
Over on WEEI, Lou Merloni said he felt like there’s been a huge rush to judgement over Story given such a small sample size. Story needs more time to really figure out if he’s a good fit.
“We did not judge Carl Crawford. That first month wasn’t pretty at all, but I would say it took a while before we said that this kid can’t play here,” Merloni said. “I think if you sit back and watch (Story), you’re gonna be just fine because the kid can play some defense and he will swing it eventually.”
Co-host Christian Fauria felt like Story wasn’t ducking anyone. He asked a source who covered Story extensively while in Colorado and was told that typically Trevor will start off slow as he begins to get acclimated to the new situation. His source also stated that Story never had an issue with media in the past and always did interviews.
Fauria explained Story hasn’t been given a fair shake with the season still really only starting. Plus, it’s not like he’s the only guy in the locker room not carrying their weight at the moment.
“The fact that he’s struggling while everybody else is struggling is kind of making him the focal point of the problem,” Fauria said. “So it’s an easy mark-up when I think about it. It’s like, whoa, whoa let’s talk about some of the other guys first.”
Co-host Meghan Ottolini chimed in on the side of Story trying to avoid media questions. But Merloni said if that’s the case, someone with the team’s PR staff will get it sorted. He called it a learning experience for Story.
“I think he just learned a lesson yesterday. Not here,” he said. “And I think someone will talk to him. We’ll see if he keeps doing it, which I doubt.”