Craig Breslow Takes Stance On Trevor Story As Red Sox's Starting Shortstop

At one point, Trevor Story was the Boston Red Sox's starting second baseman. In fact, though it was his fourth season in town, 2025 was his first year leading the team in games played at shortstop.

Story finally put together a healthy, productive season this year, which was a key reason the Red Sox made the playoffs for the first time in his tenure. But his defense slipped fairly drastically in the final few weeks of the season, including a stretch of six errors in seven games.

When Story opted back in for the final two years of his contract last week, it was natural to question whether his time as the starting shortstop could be ending, especially with rookie Marcelo Mayer waiting in the wings. Mayer could also play third, where he spent the majority of his time in the majors before suffering a wrist injury at the end of July.

Is Story Red Sox's starting shortstop?

Jun 28, 2025; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Red Sox shortstop Trevor Story (10) fields a ground ball during the seventh inning against the Toronto Blue Jays at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images | Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images

If Red Sox fans were wondering whether Story might imminently move off shortstop, though, chief baseball officer Craig Breslow did about all he could on Monday to put that speculation to bed at the Major League Baseball general manager meetings in Las Vegas.

“I’m aware of some of the errors. I’m aware of what some of the defensive metrics indicate,” Breslow said, per Christopher Smith of MassLive. “I also think that he brought a stabilizing presence to the infield. I think some of his errors were clustered toward the end of the season, in just a short time period. And also, he hasn’t played a full season in a really long time. I think he’s going into the offseason with no doubts about his health, with no doubts about his ability to perform at a really high level. I think we’re going to see even more production out of the next year.

“When Trevor was playing shortstop, we felt like balls that were put in play to the shortstop were going to be converted into outs. He and I have a great relationship and the communication is very, very clear. The commitment we have to each other is to be honest with one another.”

Breslow also said he and Story both did not feel the need to address the subject of his position moving forward, per Smith.

In general, Story has been well above average as a defender at short in his career, and it makes sense for continuity's sake to keep him there in the short term. But he's also turning 33 this weekend, and players at this position in particular tend to suffer a much sharper aging curve than most.

So while Story may be the starter for now, don't be surprised if the question pops up again at some point during the season.

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