Trevor Story: The One Thing He Wants to Improve Upon

It’s been a whirlwind first month in Major League Baseball for Trevor Story. Yet as another award was bestowed upon him on Monday, the Colorado Rockies rookie shortstop continued to show his approach to the game is far beyond his age.

Story became the first Colorado rookie since Ian Stewart in 2008 to earn National League Rookie of the Month honors after what was a record-setting April. The 23-year-old shortstop hit 10 homers to tie the all-time record for homers in the first month of a Major League career. His 17 extra-base hits mark just the third time since 1900 that a player has had that many in his first month.

But it’s not what is behind that motivates Story. Rather it’s what lies ahead and the possibilities of what could be.

Trevor Story came into Colorado’s three-game series in San Diego with a .247 average and 20 RBI, but he knows there are improvements that he must make to continuously improve his game. Part of that focus comes from Story being tied with Detroit’s Justin Upton for the most strikeouts in MLB with 39. Part of it comes from knowing he’s just off from impressing even more.

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“I think, not miss my pitch,” Story told MLB.com of the one thing he wants improve upon. “I think that leads to a lot of other things, [including] the strikeouts. I think if I take care of my pitch and put it in play, that will wipe out everything else. It’s not fouling the balls off, it’s squaring them up.”

When told of Story’s answer, Colorado manager Walt Weiss said it once again shows a maturity that Story possesses that is way beyond his years.

“Trevor has shown a really nice ability to make adjustments as a young player on the fly,” Weiss said. “He’s had to make them already in the first month of his career. He’s handled that aspect of the game really well. I think he’s very calm. He doesn’t panic. He believes in his ability and who he is as a player. That’s a big part of it.”

Weiss and the Rockies aren’t worried about Story finding how to capitalize on the pitch sooner than later.

“There are reasons why you miss your pitch. It’s tied to timing, rhythm and sometimes guys will overswing when they see their pitch and you foul it off instead of squaring it up,” Weiss said. “There are a number of things that can be happening there. That’s what every hitter wants to do. It’s one of the major differences between a guy hitting .300-plus or hitting .240. The guy hitting .300, when he gets his pitch, he’s usually putting it in play.”

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Weiss is also glad to hear the confidence that Story possesses at such a young age.

“Even in the terminology is aggressive and positive, it’s not negative or passive,” Weiss said. “Sometimes when guys talk about two-strike hitting it’s very passive. I don’t like that. There may be a mental adjustment you need to make with two strikes but I don’t like just saying you’re changing your swing. You may cut down on effort just a tad but I like that he’s talking aggressively about how to deal with it rather than passively.”