Before every game, when most of the veterans have long gone back to the clubhouse after batting practice, Trevor Story ducks into the indoor cages. Here, with only Boston Red Sox hitting coach Pete Fatse, he begins the batting routine that has powered his unlikely revival.

Just as it’s been since early June, Story digs in for pitch after pitch against Fatse, who does his best to mimic that night’s starter. Story doesn’t mind the extra work — he actually enjoys it because he’s finally healthy enough to put himself through those rigors.

Those efforts have been the impetus for his most successful season in a Red Sox uniform, and one of the biggest reasons that Boston is closing in on its first playoff appearance since 2021.

“Pete is throwing live at bats, he’s throwing fastballs, sliders — things that come up in the game that I can really test them there,” said Story, whose revamped routine has coincided with a three-month offensive surge. “The feeling translates more, doing that practice where I have to make a decision and I don’t know what’s coming. It’s pretty game-like. He’s throwing everything, even sweepers. His arm is about to fall off at this point now.”

Story’s renaissance seemed unthinkable at the end of May, when he was hitting .216 with a .585 OPS. That’s around the time that he suggested an idea to Fatse. During his most successful seasons in Colorado, Story and then-manager Bud Black adopted a similar routine of extra work in the cage. It came in handy when Story was struggling against lefties.

“It really helped me just kind of get in game mode and figure out what I needed to do to have that translate,” Story said of the plan with Black, a former big league pitcher. “He was nasty. Really good. Like, really trying to get me out.”



Fatse did not pitch in the big leagues. But when Story approached him with the idea, the coach said he was all-in. Though the extra work would pull him away from the larger group of hitters, Fatse said getting Story on track was a focal point. For the Red Sox, it made sense. They needed Story’s right-handed bat to be a centerpiece of the lineup, especially at a time when Alex Bregman was on the injured list.

“It’s just given him a lot of confidence in situations that come up, when the at-bat changes, the count leverage changes,” Fatse said.

The results came quickly.

In 86 games since June 1, Story has hit. 295 with an .863 OPS, 17 homers and 23 doubles. In that stretch, the Red Sox have gone 53-33.

So the routine goes on. Before each game, after throwing batting practice on the field to the first wave of players, Fatse turns over group BP to another coach so that he and Story can head inside to the cages. Because Fatse isn’t a big league pitcher who can throw a mid 90s fastball from the traditional mound distance to the plate, he stands closer to the plate in their one-on-one sessions to generate more speed.

“It’s uncomfortable because you’re in a cage and you’re facing live BP from a shorter distance and you look silly sometimes,” Story said. “I think that in itself, just being able to embrace that part of it, it’s all part of the process, and like I said, it’s ugly sometimes.”

Ironing out the ugliness in practice helps Story when it comes time for the at-bats that matter in game.

In regular on-field batting practice, coaches usually only throw easy fastballs. But in the sessions with Fatse, which last four rounds, Story hits against different pitch shapes, in different counts and different game situations. For example, Story knows certain pitchers will throw him offspeed pitches late in counts, so he’ll practice that specifically as Fatse tries to get him out.

“We have a pretty good idea of how we’re going to get attacked, especially this late in the year,” Story said. “(Fatse is) kind of going off that and we make our adjustments based on the execution of what I’m looking for early (in a count) or what I’m looking for late.”

After playing a combined 163 games over the past three seasons, Story is on track to have his most games played since 2021. (Winslow Townson / Getty Images)

When the Red Sox are facing a left-handed starter at home, Babson College head coach Matt Noone, an assistant for the Red Sox who throws lefty and helps out at Fenway Park, steps in for Fatse. Story made a point to note that each time he homered off a lefty at Fenway, Noone had thrown him BP.

“He’s 2-for-2,” Story quipped.

The intense one-on-one game-planning sessions have helped Story practice his plan of attack more intentionally rather than with just on-field BP with the group or hitting off a machine. Story could use Trajeckt, a pitching machine that replicates the arsenal of every pitcher in the league. But he said there’s something about a human throwing the ball that helps him better visualize his in-game at-bats.

“I like to see the ball come out of the hand rather than a 3D person throwing it,” Story said. “It’s easy when you have the machine set on sweeper and then you sit there and bang sweepers all day and feel amazing about it. But when you get in the game, it’s not automatic. It’s not a pitching machine. So it’s working through that aspect of where I’m very convicted in something and then executing it.”

All of that work has also presented itself in Story’s numbers with runners in scoring position. Entering Wednesday, he was hitting .286 with an .821 OPS in such situations, driving in 69 runs.

“A lot of (the work) is based off taking pitches and things we’re not looking to hit,” Fatse said. “Having the conviction on the takes is just as important as the swing.”

As the Red Sox brace for the final stretch, vying to make the postseason for the first time in four years, they would not be in this position with Story. Though Story played in the postseason for the Rockies in 2017 and 2018, he’s never been a part of the playoffs in Boston.

Fatse has seen Story at his lowest points as he’s struggled through returning to the field from injury each of the last three years. Seeing the results of their work has been gratifying.

“He and I have a very deep level of trust,” Fatse said. “(This routine) also is a chance, too, to iron out the game plan. We just refined that approach before the game starts, so it’s just a good way to practice with intent.”

(Photo: Stacy Revere / Getty Images)