After suffering a dislocated left shoulder on Friday during a road game against the Angels, Story is now set to go under the knife later this week — with Craig Breslow tabbing a six-month recovery timeline for the infielder. 

Before his 2024 campaign could truly begin in earnest, Story is now staring at another summer spent on the sidelines.

“I knew it was bad in the moment,” Story said of his injury. “I heard it come out and I heard some other things too. The pain I felt, I had never felt pain like that. You always try to be optimistic and just hope that it went out and came back in. You try to make the best out of the situation but some other things happen. It was more serious than we had hoped for. Hard to imagine really.”

Prior to joining the Red Sox on a six-year, $160 million contract in 2022, Story was viewed as a relatively dependable fixture in the middle infield — logging at least 140 games in his previous four non-COVD-shortened seasons with Colorado.

But since arriving in Boston, Story has only appeared in 145 total games with the Red Sox — a stat that may be fixed in place until March or April 2025. For reference, Xander Bogaerts logged 155 games in his first season alone with the San Diego Padres in 2023.

Story only played 94 games in his first season with Boston due to several injuries, including a concussion. His chances of putting together a bounce-back year fell to the wayside when he had to undergo major surgery to repair the UCL in his throwing elbow in January 2023. 

As a result of that shoulder procedure, Story did not make his 2023 season debut until August — ultimately playing in just 43 games.

Finally handed a clean bill of health entering 2024 spring training, Story looked like the All-Star talent that Boston hoped he’d be during Grapefruit League action. He batted .380 with three home runs and 14 RBI over 19 games during spring training while playing strong defense at short.

Over eight games this year, Story batted .226 with three doubles and four RBI while continuing to play elite defense at shortstop.

Story needed time to collect his thoughts when asked about the frustration of losing another season of playing time.

“Missing last season, you feel that,” Story said. “You miss your teammates. You miss playing the game. You just know what it takes. I’ll be all right. … The frustration of battling this injury thing over the last few years, it’s something I hung my hat on in my career is being able to play.

“That hasn’t been the case the last couple of years. I just love this game, man. I put my heart and soul into it. I just feel bad.”