More bad news for a Boston Red Sox team that has struggled mightily in the early goings of the 2026 MLB campaign. The club announced on Friday that shortstop Trevor Story underwent sports hernia surgery at the Vincera Institute in Philadelphia, and will be sidelined indefinitely.
The club originally placed Story on the 10 Day IL in the hopes that rest, and rehab could alleviate the symptoms he was experiencing. Unfortunately, his condition didn’t improve as the week went on, and ultimately both Story and the club felt it best to have the surgery and correct things once and for all.
While the Red Sox have yet to announce a timeline for his possible return, it’s likely somewhere around 10 weeks before the veteran infielder can realistically start ramping up baseball activities.
The 33 year old has been swinging an ice cold bat of late, due in part to the abdominal pain he was playing through. His .547 OPS currently ranks 165th out of 173 qualified hitters, and his .206 batting average leaves much to be desired. Nevertheless, he’s an important figure from a leadership perspective in the Boston clubhouse on a team that’s currently devoid of established veterans.
It’s the third major injury to a key piece of Boston’s lineup over the last several weeks, as Story will now join Roman Anthony (Wrist/Finger), and Garrett Crochet (Shoulder) on the injured list. In the interim, Andruw Monasterio and Isiah Kiner-Falefa have been alternating starts at shortstop, though manager Chad Tracy has indicated that the team is open to exploring sending second baseman Marcelo Mayer back to short if Story’s absence was going to be a longterm one.
Mayer payed shortstop throughout his amateur and minor league career, but was shifted over to 2nd base in an effort to find him additional playing time. Unfortunately for Boston, Mayer hasn’t been hitting much better of late than the now injured Story.
Across 131 at bats, the 6’3″ left handed bat has hit a paltry .221 with 2 home runs, 9 RBIs, and 11 runs scored. His .603 OPS is only slightly better than his veteran teammate’s mark.
Despite the sluggish start, Boston has won 3 games in a row to climb out of the basement in the AL East and now sit in 4th place ahead of the Baltimore Orioles. At 22-27 on the year, the team has a long way to go to close the gap between themselves and the Rays (33-15) and Yankees (30-21) if they hope to claw their way back into the postseason conversation.
Up next for Boston is a 7:10pm ET game vs. the Minnesota Twins at Fenway Park on Friday.
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