Story primed to step up as leader on 'dangerous' Sox

This story was excerpted from Ian Browne’s Red Sox Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- The external expectations that surround the Red Sox suggest that the club may not be ready to contend in the deep American League East.

Trevor Story, who seems primed to take over the leadership role that Justin Turner filled last season, doesn’t want to hear it.

“We don't like to lose and we're tired of it,” Story said on Wednesday, the first official day of Spring Training. “We have the team that we have and we're going to go out there and compete. We're a very talented group. Everyone has counted us out already, but we don't feel that way. I think it’s something that can bring a group together.”

The shortstop, healthy from the jump for the first time since he joined the Red Sox, will do everything in his power to help the team slide into the overachiever’s category in 2024.

“We know that the last two years haven't been great. People aren't picking us to do very much damage this year,” Story said. “But I think it's dangerous when you get a bunch of guys together with a talented group. So we feel good about what we can do, and that starts right now.”

In Story’s mind, an improvement in the standings will start with the culture change -- one he felt took place as soon as the offseason started.

“It's from everybody,” Story said. “We've all been on the same page since the season ended, I think we all had a good sense of what we needed going into the offseason and coming into the spring. And that's why it's stuck and you’ve heard so much about it, is because it's coming for everybody.

“It's coming from up top, too. But at the end of the day, the leaders, the players are the ones that have to believe it and we have to embrace it. We're the ones that are going to make it go.”

Without the star power of recent Boston additions, this group will have to dig deep in the work ethic category.

“I think we're going to be a team that is going to have to get the best out of what we have,” Story said. “I think we could be really competitive and I don't see why we can't take a run at the whole thing. We're a bunch of competitors here, so that's what we feel and that's what we're going to talk about.”

Competition from within is a big part of the messaging from the Red Sox heading into this season.

“I think in professional baseball, sometimes competition within the group is overlooked a little bit, and I think we're really going to challenge that,” said Story. “Sometimes, you’re going to go out there and get exposed a little bit, but I think that's part of it. It’s going to happen to me, it’s going to happen to Raffy [Devers], it’s going to happen to a lot of people.

“But I think we, as leaders of this team, can go out there and feel naked at times and look silly at times and get embarrassed. I think that brings the group together and shows that, ‘Hey man, no one’s above this process, and we're trying to get better.’ So we, as leaders, set the tone for that.”

And perhaps one thing that hasn’t gotten enough play is the difference Story can make over a full season. In his first season with Boston two years ago, injuries limited him to just 93 games. And he was a second baseman that year, meaning the Red Sox didn’t have the full Story experience.

Story is one of the best defensive shortstops in the game, something he proved many times over in his abbreviated season (43 games) that didn’t start until August due to right elbow surgery.

“It's something I take a lot of pride in, playing shortstop. To me, it’s a prideful position,” Story said. “To me, you're the leader of the infield and you set the tone out there. So that's the attitude I'm coming in with.”

Story also has a middle-of-the-order bat that has helped him to 24 homers or more five times in his career. That goes along with speed that should allow him to steal 20-plus bases under the new rules that were instituted last season, which limit the amount of pickoff moves for pitchers.

“I feel great,” said Story. “I had a healthy offseason and a normal training program. Haven't been able to say that for a couple of years. So I’m taking advantage of that and I'm feeling really good.”