Trevor Story: Admiring a Rookie’s History-Making Season

Let’s sit back for just a moment and admire the season that Trevor Story is putting together for the Colorado Rockies.

In Sunday’s win over the Atlanta Braves, Story blasted his 27th home run of the season. It was part of a 2-for-4 day for the rookie shortstop that raised his average to .275 on the season to go along with those 27 homers and 69 RBI.

Story’s 27 homers are the second-most for a rookie in Colorado Rockies history. He bypassed Todd Helton on Sunday and now has his sights set squarely on the mark of 28 set by Wilin Rosario in 2012.

Much like when Story burst onto the Major League Baseball scene at the start of the season, the 23-year-old is once again in the middle of a homer frenzy. He’s now blasted home runs in three consecutive games, just one short of the four-game stretch he had in April to open the season.

That frenzy has pushed Story to the top of the National League home run leaderboard, two ahead of Nolan Arenado and six in front of Carlos Gonzalez.

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Last season, CarGo and Nolan put together a fun race for the Colorado home run lead as the season wound down. This year, both look like they’ll be chasing Story as the calendar turns to August.

He simply terrorized Atlanta during Colorado’s four-game sweep of the Braves, going 7-for-14 in the series with one double, four home runs and nine RBI. Over his last 10 games, Story is batting .433 (13-for-30) with one double, six home runs and 12 RBI.

Think about this. When Story went 4-for-4 with two homers and stole a base in Colorado’s win over the Braves on Saturday, Elias Sports says he became the youngest player to have a game of 4-for-4 or better with two homers and a stolen base since 21-year old Joe Morgan did that in 1965 during a 6-for-6 performance against the Milwaukee Braves.

By the way, he’s not just hitting homers … he’s hitting them a long way. His average distance is 417.75 feet. Of those who have hit 20 or more homers, only Gonzalez (424.75) and Miami’s Giancarlo Stanton (421.80) have higher average distance per homer.

Story saved his best for Sunday, sending a fourth-inning shot into the left-center seats for a 456-homer, his longest of the season.

Come on, those are video game numbers, not statistics a rookie should be putting up.

After suffering through a hand injury and a bit of a slump at the plate before the All-Star break, Story has once again entrenched himself into the National League Rookie of the Year conversation around the country. Corey Seager appears to be Story’s main competition for the honor, setting up what could be a fun battle between two of the best young shortstops in the game today as the season continues to unfold.

Battling Seager for the NL Rookie of the Year slot and battling Arenado for the team and NL lead in homers (and RBI, for that matter)? It’s shaping up to be a fun rest of the season.

Next: 4 Things We Learned from Colorado's Sweep of Atlanta

Story has said time and time again that he’s going to keep approaching the game in the same way that he did when he was battling Cristhian Adames and Daniel Descalso for the starting job in spring training.

Whatever you’re doing, Trevor Story, keep it up. We’re all watching and loving what we’re seeing.