Red Sox’ 5 Trevor Story replacements after devastating injury update

A legendary minor league speedster with just 44 MLB plate appearances under his belt, Hamilton is likely going to be the only man given the chance to win the shortstop job outright. At 26, Hamilton is getting his second chance to stick in the big leagues, after a disastrous cup of coffee in 2023 that saw him bat just .121 with a 22 OPS+.

If one-game sample sizes are your thing, then Hamilton is already destined for success. In his first game back in the majors on Sunday, Hamilton clubbed a solo home run, the first of his career, in his very first at-bat. He ended the game 2-for-4 with a walk and accumulated 0.3 wins above replacement, catapulting his career total out of the negatives to a sturdy 0.2. Hamilton had also hit two home runs in just four games at AAA before the call-up, so perhaps he really has found his power stroke.

Now, on the downside, Hamilton also had two strikeouts in that Sunday game, so we’d be wise to see a few more games before making any definitive judgments about his readiness to assume full-time shortstop duty. But it seems clear that the Red Sox are desperately hoping Hamilton can win the gig this time around, if not banking on it. Because the options behind him are, eh…

Pablo Reyes

The 30-year-old Reyes, who played 31 games at shortstop for Boston a season ago, has by far the most experience in Boston of all the potential suitors for the position. Right off the bat, that’s cause for concern. Reyes was something of a cult hero among Sox fans in 2023, coming straight off the scrap heap of the Oakland Athletics’ AAA roster, hitting .287 and belting a walk-off grand slam against the Royals. But the long-term outlook for Reyes is far less promising.

So far this season, Reyes is 3-for-16 with a 28 OPS+, an abysmal offensive standard even at a position that stresses defense first. And unfortunately, the defense hasn’t been any better, as Reyes has produced -2 outs above average already in just 14 innings at shortstop. So although last season’s encouraging cameo will earn him a few early chances to get in the picture, the underlying metrics suggest Reyes likely isn’t the man for the everyday job.

Ceddanne Rafaela

If you’re looking for someone to play the most important position behind the pitcher, how about the guy you just paid $50 million to stick around for the next eight years? 23-year-old Ceddanne Rafaela was a top-100 prospect in MLB coming into the season, is hailed as a defensive savant, and has the raw tools to develop into a true speed-power threat at the plate.

But ultimately, Rafaela’s long-term future is most likely to be in center field, where he has Platinum Glove upside. He’s already made some jaw-dropping catches this season, likely saving the Sox at least one win in the standings, and has said that he pretty much expects himself to catch anything that stays in the ballpark. Prospect evaluators have graded Rafaela’s defense as a plus at shortstop as well, but not as game-breaking as it is in center.

Still, positional versatility has become all the rage in MLB, and if Mookie Betts can move to shortstop after not playing the position for over a decade, Rafaela can certainly plug and play there as he’s done all through his time in the minors. The Red Sox can play Jarren Duran in center whenever Rafaela is at short and that might enable them to put their best possible batting order on the field.

But deep down, it’s pretty certain Alex Cora knows his team will be best off in the long run if Rafaela is left to develop as an everyday center fielder. He can help replace some of Story’s shortstop innings in 2024, but the Red Sox shouldn’t be banking on him staying there in the long run.

Romy Gonzalez

Though Gonzalez has yet to play an inning in Boston, Alex Cora is announcing to the world that as of right now, the former Chicago White Sox utility man is going to share platoon duties at shortstop with Hamilton for the time being. Of course, as the righty bat in that platoon, that means Gonzalez is only going to play about 1/4 of the games at shortstop. And that’s likely for the best.

Though he’s off to a strong start at the plate in AAA, Gonzalez has never proven he’s capable of hitting major league pitching. He got 239 plate appearances in Chicago and managed to accumulate -0.7 WAR, thanks to a paltry .239 on-base percentage and slipshod defense. So while Gonzalez can potentially support the roster by playing multiple positions and by not being Bobby Dalbec, the odds of him winning the shortstop job outright are slim to none.

Vaughn Grissom

Remember him? Former Atlanta Braves top prospect Vaughn Grissom was one of the marquee acquisitions of the Red Sox’ offseason, a 23-year-old with some success in his limited MLB action and a hit tool that almost certainly gives him a floor as a solid everyday big league bat.

The Red Sox were planning for Grissom to take over the full-time second base role coming into the season, but an oblique injury in spring training has delayed the start of his season indefinitely. He is set to begin a rehab assignment this week and Alex Cora said Tuesday that Grissom will get some opportunities to play shortstop again while in the minors.

There’s no doubt Grissom is the most MLB-ready bat on this list, and probably the number one guy mentioned so far that the Red Sox expect to be a part of their future. But unless something drastically changes on this rehab stint, he probably doesn’t have the glove to stick at shortstop in the majors. It’s more likely he’ll put Enmanuel Valdez out of a job at second base once he’s ready to get back in the saddle.

Marcelo Mayer

Ah, wishful thinking. Mayer is unlikely to make his MLB debut until the very end of 2024 at the earliest, so he’s not really an option here. But the minute Story was injured yet again, every Red Sox fan’s mind flashed forward to a time in the not-too-distant future when hopefully, they’ll have their young shortstop savior.

Sadly, that day is not today, as Mayer needs to rebound from an injury-riddled 2023 where he struggled mightily against AA pitching. But Mayer’s at-bats in Portland this year may be just as, if not more important to the future success of the franchise than the answer to who takes over Trevor Story’s job for the interim in Boston.