Back in March, I had a post talking about guys who'd been out for a while that may factor into this season, and a lot of them were people like Ronny Mauricio, Endy Rodriguez, Alek Manoah and Kris Bryant, who really haven't. A few of them I was onto something, like Mike Trout having a relatively full season or Brandon Woodruff being a true force upon activation. But these two above were two of the ones I really wanted to work out, because for the amount of time they'd missed, if they'd fizzled out it wouldn't have been worth it.
Trevor Story signed his contract with the Red Sox in 2022, and after a decent-enough but still injury-shortened first year in Boston, Story kept having the absolute worst health luck over the next 2 seasons. 2023 would last only 43 games, and 2024 would last only 26. Unlike Anthony Rendon, with Story you got the sense that he genuinely hated missing time, and wanted more than anything to be able to contribute to this team. And so 2025 being a full, consistent and hot year for Story feels like a very fitting payoff.
Lately, Story has felt like one of the hottest hitters in the Sox lineup, which says something considering Jarren Duran, Wilyer Abreu, Masataka Yoshida and Roman Anthony are also in there. Story is hitting .260 with 19 homers, 73 RBIs [leading the team] and 19 steals, some very solid numbers for the veteran infielder. Since mid-June he's been particularly potent, and his coming into vogue recently has really helped matters, especially as Rafaela and Bregman have calmed down a bit. After too many seasons where the guy the Sox had paid all that money to play shortstop didn't end up playing much shortstop, it's a welcome surge, especially since the guy they paid all that money to play third base...well, you know.
Eury Perez has had a similarly satisfying resurgence. His rookie season in 2023 was a breath of fresh air that helped propel the Marlins towards October. As a 20-year-old rookie, Perez was eerily dominant, posting a 3.15 ERA and 108 Ks in 19 starts. Then he gets hurt, misses all of 2024 and doesn't come back til partway into 2025. Even with everything in Miami that hasn't worked out, Sandy Alcantara especially, Perez has been exactly what people had been wanting. In 11 starts he's got a 3.25 ERA, 52 Ks and a 1.012 WHIP. Even on a team like the Marlins, who either don't show up or score 12 points off you, he's been very reliable. Him and Edward Cabrera have been the rare elements from the 2023 rotation that still seem to be working as well as everyone thought.
Both of these teams have been trending upward thanks to these returning guys, and both of these teams are factoring heavily into divisions that were previously thought settled. The Sox are now ahead of the Yankees in the AL East standings, and look to keep their leverage as the Yankees begin to fight back. The Marlins are juuuust on the tip of the wild card race, and have enough momentum and spoiler energy that they could sneak in, especially as their lineup keeps pounding away at even formidable teams.
Hopefully from here, these two can stay healthy and consistent, and keep their fanbases from waiting without end for their return.
Coming Tomorrow- The Twins have absolutely nothing left, but they do have this one rookie that's finally healthy again.
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