FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Trevor Story takes his role seriously as the captain of the infield for the Red Sox. And even though he had a nice re-entry season in 2025 after several years of injury mishaps, Story expects more of himself defensively now that he’s had time to reacclimate with a healthy body.
His biggest area of focus? Improving his backhand, which the metrics proved was not up to par last season.
The 33-year-old spent much of his winter making adjustments to his pre-step setup, which he believes will make a substantial difference.
“We looked at the numbers on the backhand,” Story said. “I could be a little better there. So, yeah, it's really about that pre-pitch setup and giving me a foot, two feet. More of an angle to get there and use my arm strength to make the throw. It’s just about the little things.”
As a veteran, Story knows that perfecting those little things can amount to big things over the course of a long season.
“A lot of it is about pre-positioning and scouting,” Story said. “But if you can gain a foot somewhere, that means a lot.”
The backhand has typically been one of Story’s favorite plays, which is why it will be gratifying for him to make more of them this season.
“I mean, I love it. I love going backhand, especially the short backhand and throwing on the run,” Story said. “That's kind of the [Troy Tulowitzki] play that I learned from him, and my athleticism lends to making those plays and throwing on the run, the jump throws in the hole. Those are always fun.”
Story rated -9 outs above average last season, per Statcast, the worst of his career. On balls where he had to move toward third base, Story was -6. The final numbers looked worse due to a late-season defensive slump, when Story made six of his 19 errors in the last nine games.
“That bothers me, because I felt that overall, I was putting together a good [season],” Story said. “But that’s kind of [the product of] putting the full season together after missing a couple years.”
Cora offering big hints with early batting order
Throughout most of his time as Red Sox manager, Alex Cora has been one to let a lot of Spring Training play out before dropping hints regarding his Opening Day lineup.
This spring has been a different story. On Saturday, Cora pretty much committed to Roman Anthony as his leadoff hitter. And he acknowledged that Sunday’s lineup against the Blue Jays should be pretty close to the one he goes with on Opening Day.
That lineup looked like this:
Roman Anthony, DH
Trevor Story, SS
Jarren Duran, LF
Willson Contreras, 1B
Wilyer Abreu, RF
Caleb Durbin, 3B
Ceddanne Rafaela, CF
Carlos Narváez, C
Isiah Kiner-Falefa, 2B
The one thing that could be different is Marcelo Mayer. He'll play his first Grapefruit League game on Friday and will likely be the second baseman, probably hitting seventh, which would push Rafaela and Narváez back a spot. Kiner-Falefa is expected to serve as the team’s super-utility player.
“I just felt that's a good way to set it up,” Cora said. “It's something I have envisioned, and it just happened that for the first time in years, what you might see early is what you're probably going to see on Opening Day.”
Campbell wowed by Sonny the spin doctor
Consider Kristian Campbell among those thoroughly impressed by the way veteran addition Sonny Gray can spin the baseball. Campbell was one of the hitters who faced Gray during the righty’s impressive two-inning session of live batting practice on Sunday morning.
“The way he spins it is crazy,” Campbell said. “That’s my first time I’ve ever seen it. I’ve heard about it, but it’s different when you’re in the box. I’ve seen sweepers that are slow and just kind of get over. His was quick, and it moved a lot."