Texas Rangers must make Trevor Story their future shortstop

The Texas Rangers plan to be big spenders during the 2021-2022 offseason. First on their list should be All-Star shortstop Trevor Story.

The Texas Rangers expect to compete again in 2023, and are looking to spend big next offseason.

The first place the Rangers should look is at the deep shortstop class available next offseason, and begin with current Rockies shortstop Trevor Story.

He is a natural fit for the Texas Rangers and would be the franchise-changing player the team could be desperately looking for.

First and foremost, Story is a Texas native.

Trevor Story and the Texas Rangers feel like a perfect match.

A graduate from Irving High School, Trevor Story is familiar with the DFW area and grew up cheering on the Texas Rangers.

The Rangers need to go into next offseason looking to lock up Story early, as they let Anthony Rendon slip through their fingers last offseason.

Geographically, Story is a natural fit, but what about him as a player?

Well, the Texas Rangers did just move Isiah Kiner-Falefa to short, after moving Elvis Andrus to a utility role.

So, where does he fit in the infield?

To begin, the Rangers ought to move IKF to second base, a position he should excel at defensively and allow his bat to play up more, while opening up the shortstop position.

By shifting Kiner-Falefa to second, Trevor Story has his natural position available and allows Josh Jung to remain at third.

Additionally, we haven’t seen Kiner-Falefa play short everyday, so we’ll compare Story to Elvis Andrus’ numbers.

Trevor Story sports a .980 career fielding percentage, which is an upgrade over Elvis Andrus’ .973 fielding percentage.

Story’s presence in the Texas Rangers’ infield would immediately increase defensive flexibility and would make the entire infield a better all-around unit.

From an offensive perspective, Story is undoubtedly a top five shortstop in the game at the plate.

A career .277 hitter with a .535 slugging percentage isn’t too shabby for a player at what is considered a premium defensive position.

Incumbent shortstop Elvis Andrus has a similar batting average (.274), but is out-slugged by Story by almost 200 points.

Story could slide into the top of the Texas batting order and provide another power bat to pair with Joey Gallo.

Imagine a future Texas Rangers lineup headed by Leody Taveras, David Dahl, Trevor Story and Joey Gallo.

Story’s bat in the three hole would immediately create lineup depth and would give Chris Woodward one of the more feared starting four across the league.

Lastly, did I mention that he likes to hit in Arlington?

In 2020, Story hit a cool .391 with three singles and doubles, two homers and a triple.

Over his career in games played in Arlington, however, he’s hit .464 with three homers and an average exit velocity of 93.2 mph.

I think the Rangers would love to have him in the red, white and blue based on those numbers.

If you need more proof of how well he hits in the expansive Globe Life Field, look back on this two homer game where he made it look like a little league field.

Obviously, Trevor Story won’t change the direction of the Texas Rangers alone, but he would represent a huge step in the right direction.

If they start with Story, the Texas Rangers could begin to close their rebuilding chapter and open another in which they arise back to contention for the long haul.

So Chris Young and Jon Daniels, from every Rangers fan, please go get Trevor Story and, maybe, a Clayton Kershaw (because why not?) to pair him with.