SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — The way he skirts the dirt around home plate, the way he walks the long route from the on-deck circle to his spot in the batter’s box, the way he fidgets with his white gloves, breathes out deep at the plate with his bat squared in front of his face — Trevor Story looks for all the world like Troy Tulowitzki.
“I’ve been told that a lot,” Story said. “It’s something I don’t necessarily try to do. But he was one of my favorite players to watch, so I watched him a lot.
“Maybe it did come from him. It’s a mental technique for me. Every pre-pitch, that’s what I do.”
The Rockies’ newest starting shortstop played so long in the giant shadow of Tulowitzki that some things rubbed off. And with Tulowitzki long gone from Colorado, his successor is finally playing without a ceiling.
Story, a 23-year-old from Irving, Texas, tore through spring training to leap ahead of a three-man competition at shortstop. He probably will be a starter on opening day, April 4 against the Arizona Diamondbacks in Phoenix. Story is finally ready to be himself.
“I grew up in this organization. He was here the whole time I’ve been here,” Story said of Tulowitzki, who was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays last July. “Shortstop was on lock when he was here. And when he went, it’s like, ‘Oh, man, I’m not used to not having Tulo here.’
“With him leaving, it opens some things up.”
Batting sure beats pitching:
Story is not the Rockies’ shortstop of the future — he is their shortstop now. You just have to lean in close to tell it’s him.
“He’s a super quiet guy, but he sure works hard,” said third baseman Nolan Arenado. “The power is there, obviously. He looks great. He has solid at-bats and has some pop. I can’t get over how much control he has over his game.”
Story appeared on his way to the major leagues by the time his freshman year began at Irving High School in suburban Dallas. He was a pitcher then, and could touch 96 mph on a radar gun. But he was too athletic to play only once every five days.
“When I got into high school, I fell in love with hitting,” Story said. “Freshman and sophomore years, that’s when I realized I could do something with this.”
Big-league scouts began appearing like mushrooms. The Rockies used their second pick in the first round of the 2011 draft to select Story, the 45th overall pick. He then rose through every level in Colorado’s minor-league system.
But his climb was difficult. He flailed at first with Single-A Modesto and Double-A Tulsa. His ability often outshined the field. But as the pitching got tougher and strike zones shrank and breaking balls turned sharper, his batting average cratered (going from .277 to .200 in less than a year) and his strikeouts shot up (from an average of one per game to 1.5).
“A lot of times with a young player, they have tremendous ability but the consistency of what they’re doing every day isn’t there,” said Rockies farm director Zach Wilson, aware that many scouts wrote off Story.
“The prospect world tried to do that when all of a sudden he had a tough year at Modesto and he slipped on everybody’s lists,” Wilson said. “Our belief in him never slipped. We knew the guy and what kind of baseball heart he has in him.”
Pulled away from pull hitter:
The scouting line on the 6-foot-1, 180-pound Story at the time said he had plenty of pop in his bat but didn’t make enough contact and was a pull hitter.
But in 2014, he dumped 40 strikeouts off his ledger and began spraying the ball around — and his on-base-percentage jumped 62 points.
“His approach is to the big part of the field, an opposite-field approach,” Rockies manager Walt Weiss said. “I haven’t seen him pull a lot of balls this spring. That’s a good sign. Early on, some of the reports from his minor-league days were he got pull-happy. But those days are gone.”
Story’s 1.166 OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage) this spring is second-best among the Rockies, behind Arenado. But spring stats count for bupkis.
Tulowitzki didn’t exactly light the world on fire when he was called up in 2007, two years after he was drafted out of Long Beach State. But he helped the Rockies reach the World Series that season. He is among the best shortstops in baseball, now starring with Toronto after his blockbuster trade last summer.
“It was a whirlwind. I remember lying in bed, it was late at night, one of my buddies screenshotted it to me on Twitter,” Story said of the night when he learned Tulowitzki was no longer in front of him. “I woke up and saw it. It was crazy.”
Story has played his way past veteran utility man Daniel Descalso (hand injury) and Cristhian Adames in spring training. And veteran shortstop Jose Reyes, who was acquired in the Tulowitzki trade, is out while facing domestic abuse charges.
When the Rockies play their home opener April 8 against the San Diego Padres, Story likely will kick the same dirt Tulo perched on for so long at Coors Field.
“I’m definitely more at home now,” Story said. “Last year was my first camp. I was just trying not to say too much, put in my work, keep my head down. This year is the same, but I can be more myself. It helps on the field.”
Nick Groke: ngroke@denverpost.com or @nickgroke
