MLB

Trevor Story Tied Another Rookie Record Thursday Night

Ben Bruno  —  @BenBBruno Jul 8th, 2016
Story has had an impressive start to his big-league career, and he made history with his performance on Thursday.

Colorado Rockies shortstop Trevor Story entered Thursday's game against the Philadelphia Phillies with 19 home runs and a .530 slugging percentage in his first 337 plate appearances in the big leagues. Those are impressive totals for any hitter, let alone a 23-year-old rookie and were enough to get him into the All-Star Game final vote running.

Unfortunately for Story, he's facing some stiff competition, and going by the numbers, he isn't the best choice to win the vote.

That hasn't stopped him from continuing to impress at the plate and even make some history along the way.

In the bottom of the third inning on Thursday, Story stepped to the plate with two runners on, and like he had done 19 times previously this season, he went yard. The home run gave him 20 on the season and put him just one tater away from tying a Major League record.

Story's next at-bat came in the bottom of the fifth -- this time with no runners on base -- and with history on the line he delivered.

This shot was Story's 21st of the season, tying him with Albert Pujols for the most home runs hit by a rookie prior to the All-Star break.


Not only did Story make history with his double dong performance, but he did it in a major way, as both of his home runs were no-doubters.


These two monster shots give Story 10 home runs this season that traveled a distance of 428 feet or greater, according to ESPN's Home Run Tracker.

After Thursday's performance, Story has moved his slugging percentage up to .550 -- which is 19th-best this season -- and his 21 home runs are tied for the 9th-most. He's striking out at a tremendous clip, his 32.0 strikeout percentage is fifth-worst, but his power is unquestioned.

He now owns the sixth-best ISO at .290, which is likely boosted by an impressive hard-hit rate. His 43.8 percent hard hit rate is the 3rd-highest in baseball, so despite having a high swinging-strike percentage (his 12.7 percent ranks 30th), he tends to plaster the ball when he makes contact.

And just to put the Coors Field advantage to rest, Story has more home runs (11) on the road this season than he does at home (10).

We project Story to hit another 11 home runs over the remaining course of the season. This would give him 32 for the year, which would tie him for the seventh-most home runs hit by a rookie. Mark McGwire hit 49(!) in his rookie season back in 1987.

Regardless, only 17 hitters had more than 32 home runs last season, so if Story meets our forecast, he would likely be part of an impressive group -- and not just among rookies.