In an NFBC 15-team league where there are no pickups in-season, I already plan on drafting Trevor Story, and it’s only November, and this is coming from a guy who doesn’t know what he’s doing next weekend. How’s that for excitement, Spanish beach? Hmm, maybe that makes more sense if I leave it as playa. Here’s what Prospect Mike said recently, “(Story went) 20/20 in Double and Triple-A as a 22-year-old with a decent average…knocking on the door at Coors with only Jose Reyes in his way? Gimme. The strikeout rate has always been a concern for him, but that’s a risk I’m willing to take with his offensive upside at shortstop. 2016 should see him in the majors, and depending on how quickly the Rockies unload Reyes (or he gets injured) it could be a quick stay in Triple-A for Trevor. Now if we could only unload Grey.” Geez, what did I do to this guy? I’ll go Mike one better, Reyes won’t be playing for the Rockies by May. What makes me so confident? For the past three years, Reyes hasn’t made it out of April without an injury. It was a solid career, but doode’s so toast that Wonder Bread calls him up for a booty call. Anyway, what can we expect from Trevor Story for 2016 fantasy baseball?
To borrow from Michael Jackson, what’s His-Story and can I fit a few more child stars in my bed? Okay, first part applies a bit more. Story was selected out of high school, you know, that school you forgot to go to, and jumped into the discussion of top talents in all of the minors after a huge year at Single-A. Then the wheels fell off in 2013 and he started swinging and missing a lot. So bad his friends were like, “Move to Holland, you windmill.” In High-A in his 2nd year, he struck out 33% of the time. I just grabbed the first high-strikeout hitter I could think of from the recesses of my brain and looked up his K-rate in High-A. Chris Carter struck out 26.3% of the time there. This is one area you don’t want to beat Chris Carter, and creating classic sci-fi shows is the only other area you can’t beat Chris Carter. Story came back with a 34.6% K-rate in Double-A in 2014 and I’m starting to wonder why the Rockies kept promoting him. Oh, I know, his 20/20 ability. Last year, there were gains in Ks, thankfully. He only struck out 24.5% of the time. This is still more than Carter (22.8) at the same level. If Story were 25 years old, I think we might be able to write him off, but he’s only going to be 23 this year (all year, crazy how that works, right?), and his gains last year give me hope he could keep his K-rate under 30% in the majors. 30% is still not good, but it’s not 35% or greater as it seemed to be headed, which would’ve rendered him unusable. 30% K-rate still takes us to around a .230-.240, but as previously mentioned 20/20 with a .240 average at shortstop is more than acceptable. Plus (oh, yeah, Grey’s adding on!), he will play in Coors where Nick Hundley went from a .240 hitter to a .300 hitter, so I’m intrigued, y’all! I’m guessing Reyes will be gone or injured by May, then the Rockies will drag their feet for a month, then Story will get his shot in June. For 2016, I’ll give him the line of 29/12/36/.232/13 in 350 ABs with a chance here for a ton more because A) Coors B) Upside C) There’s no C.
