Trevor Story writing unprecedented first chapter to Rockies career
By Kyle Ringo
April 8, 2016 10:13 PM
Big League Stew
DENVER -- The jerseys worn to Coors Field on Friday afternoon for the Colorado Rockies home opener were mostly relics, celebrations of days gone by featuring names like Helton, Walker, Tulowitzki and some recognizing Gold Glove third baseman Nolan Arenado or slugger Carlos Gonzalez.
There were no No. 27s pleading for autographs at the edge of dugout before the game, standing in the concession lines or sitting in the outfield hoping a home run would come their way. That is about to change.
Almost from the moment fans were allowed into the building to catch the tail end of the Rockies’ batting practice two hours before the game, it felt as if the purple-clad people of Colorado came to see their 23-year-old rookie shortstop Trevor Story as much, maybe more than wanting to experience all the traditions of the home opener. And he made sure not to disappoint them by extending his historic and almost unbelievable home run streak.
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Story had already made history giving everyone in Major League Baseball a reason to know who was wearing that No. 27 jersey for the Rockies before he took batting practice for the first time at Coors Field let alone played his first game in Denver.
He is the only player in the modern era (since 1900) to hit a home run in each of his first three games in the big leagues, all in Arizona. He is the first player to hit two home runs in his major league debut in a season opener. He went into the Rockies home opener with four home runs in 14 at-bats looking to keep his historic run going after fulfilling a request from the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown donating his batting helmet and batting gloves with which he started the season.
This just doesn’t happen much in baseball or any other sport for that matter. The Hall of Fame asking for your gear before you’ve played a home game.
“I think I saw it right from the beginning of spring training, just the poise," manager Walt Weiss said before Friday's game. "You never know how a young player is going to respond when he knows there is an opportunity. And he knew that right coming in that he had an opportunity to win a job and come to the big leagues for the first time and it elevated his game. You see some players go the other way, where it’s a little bit too much for them. But with Trevor, we saw his game elevate. He had a tremendous spring. He just always looked in control of the game the entire spring and he took it right into the first series.”
Story was in Coors Field for only the fourth time in his life Friday, yet he received an ovation to rival Arenado from the crowd during the traditional player introductions that come with home openers. Another roar followed in his first at-bat when he came to the plate with Kanye West’s “Father Stretch My Hands” playing as his walk-up music. He flied out to right field.
He came to the plate for the third time in just the fourth inning because this is Coors Field, the hardest place in the game for pitchers to get outs. He was 1-for-2 having smacked the first hit of his career that wasn’t a home run to right field in the second inning, driving in a run.
San Diego starter Colin Rea fired a pitch down in the zone that Story went down and clobbered 411 feet high up into the bleachers in left field. Home run No. 5.
Mouths were agape, high-fives were abundant, the scoreboard in left field read simply KABOOM. Somewhere someone was surely asking themselves, ‘How in the world is this guy rated only the Rockies 11th best prospect?’ No one has seen a rookie start a career by mashing big league pitching like this – ever.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Colorado manager Walt Weiss said afterward.
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Poster Comment:
Put me in coach.....