Colorado Rockies: Trevor Story must continue to build upon his success

Last season, this Colorado Rockies’ player was a Silver Slugger award winner, led the National League in extra base hits, was in the top 5 in home runs, RBI, and slugging percentage, and was in the top 15 in batting average, hits and runs.

No, this was not the newly resigned eight-year, $260 million man, Nolan Arenado, or even three-time All-Star Charlie Blackmon. In 2018, the Colorado Rockies enjoyed an amazing breakout season by shortstop Trevor Story.

The now-26-year-old Story put up MVP-type numbers last season, hitting .291/.348/.567 with 37 HR, 108 RBI, 88 runs scored, and 27 stolen bases, earning his first-ever All-Star selection. He also arguably should have won his first Gold Glove, losing out to Arizona Diamondback’s Nick Ahmed.

If the Rockies are going to win their first-ever division title, they are going to need Story to build on his success from 2018.

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The first step for Story to have an even better year in ’19 is he absolutely must stay healthy. He likely could have been the Rockies’ first member of the 30 HR/30 SB club since Larry Walker in 1997 until he injured in his elbow in late September. He also had stints on the injured list in his previous two seasons. Even though he played in 157 games last season, he needs to remain healthy throughout the entire season.

He must reduce his strikeouts and put the ball in play more. After leading the National League in strikeouts with 191 in ’17, his strikeouts dropped to 168 in 95 more at-bats in ’18. If those empty at-bats continue to decrease, his offensive production could top all of baseball, considering Blackmon and Arenado are batting ahead of him.

Finally, even though it might sound minor, he will need to adjust to having someone else playing next to him at second base. In his three seasons in the majors, he has had the luxury of being surrounded by Gold Glovers DJ LeMahieu at second and Arenado at third. With the departure of LeMahieu, he will now have to learn the strengths and weaknesses of whoever wins the starting job at second and adjust to it. If he is able to do just that, he could win his first Gold Glove.

Trevor Story and the Colorado Rockies had a fantastic 2018 season but they fell short of their ultimate goal. If they can build off of that success, 2019 can have a much better outcome.