PHOENIX — Let me tell you a Story you won’t believe.
A kid always swings for the fences in his dreams. But this was ridiculous: On opening day of the baseball season, in his first game as a major-league ballplayer, 23-year-old Rockies shortstop Trevor Story put a charge in a 92 mph fastball by Arizona Diamondbacks ace Zack Greinke and clubbed it for a home run.
OK, so who saw that coming?
Well, to tell the truth, Story did. He promised his mother it would happen 18 years ago.
“He was maybe 5 years old,” Teddie Story told me Monday night, “when Trevor told me he was going to be a major-league ballplayer. He always told me he was going to do this.”
OK, way back when he was in kindergarten, even then little Trevor did not have the imagination or the nerve to call his home run shot off a pitcher the quality of Greinke, who won the Cy Young Award with the Kansas City Royals in 2009 and led the majors with a microscopic 1.66 earned run average while throwing for the Los Angeles Dodgers last season.
When the rookie shortstop took Greinke deep to right field for a three-run homer with a capacity crowd of 48,165 watching, including what seemed to be about half the population from Story’s hometown of Irving, Texas, the moment was not too big for him. Heck, that was not pressure. He told me pressure was making his prep debut as a 14-year-old freshman, having to make that long throw across the diamond to first baseman Tyler Story, who was not only his big brother but the role model who helped him fall in love with baseball.
“From the time he was a little kid, Trevor always tried to emulate Tyler,” said Jay Malone, who coached the baseball team at Irving High School. “At the end of the season, I moved Trevor up from the freshman team to the varsity so he could play in a game with his brother. You know what Trevor did in his first at-bat with the varsity? He ripped a double off the wall. And I’m thinking to myself: ‘I must be the dumbest coach of all time. Why didn’t I play him sooner?’ “
Perhaps somebody should have warned Greinke. There was a book on Story long before he joined the Rockies. This young man comes out hacking from the word go.
Want to know why he has a chance to fill the shoes of Troy Tulowitzki, one of the more beloved players in Rockies history? It really has nothing to do with a compact swing that can pack the power of Thor’s hammer, although that will help his slugging percentage. What is at work here is more than talent.
Story not only knows who he is, he is comfortable in his own skin. Bravado is not his game. To call Story a kid is an insult to his maturity, which is a direct reflection of his upbringing as the son of a fireman deep in the heart of Texas. Colorado veterans such as Carlos Gonzalez and Nolan Arenado have adopted Story as a kid brother. That’s significant, because players can tell a fake from the real deal from Day One. The Rockies can see everything about Story is understated, businesslike and straight-from-the-heart genuine.
For example: After getting in his work during batting practice before his big-league debut, Story stepped from the cage and looked in the stands above the third-base dugout, where his relatives were snapping photographs. Oh, the rookie knew they were there. But he did not run over for hugs and handshakes. Instead, Story fixed his gaze at members of his extended family and flashed a hand signal that declared: I love you.
“Just so you know how the Story clan rolls, we have been 100 percent behind Trevor since long before he got any national publicity,” said Keith Story, the shortstop’s uncle. “And if he goes 0-for-4 in his first game in the majors, we will love him just the same.”
OK, maybe any hitter with legit ability can put one lucky swing on the ball and send it sailing over the fence. But after taking Greinke deep in the third inning, Story stepped back in the box against one of the savviest, nastiest pitchers on the planet in the fourth inning. And know what happened? You might not believe this but …
Story got all of an 85 mph slider from Greinke and knocked the pitch halfway to the Grand Canyon, for a towering home run to left field. The tale grew taller, but no less true.
Story became the first player in more than 100 years to hit multiple homers in his major-league debut on opening day. We’re not talking Rockies history. Or National League history. He made baseball history.
That’s how this Story goes.
Mark Kiszla: mkiszla@denverpost.com or @markkiszla
