Royals vs. Red Sox Tuesday MLB props, odds: Trevor Story +500 to homer in season debut

Before the 2022 season, the Boston Red Sox and former Colorado Rockies All-Star shortstop Trevor Story agreed to a $140 million free-agent contract. At the time, it looked like the Sox might have gotten a good deal, but Story struggled at times last season through injuries and has been hurt all this year. Story will make his season debut Tuesday night at Fenway Park and is +500 at FanDuel to homer against the Kansas City Royals.

Last year in 94 games, Story his .238 with 16 homers, 66 RBI and 13 steals. While the batting average wasn't great, the other numbers are quite solid for a middle infielder and would have been really good extrapolated over 150 games or so. Story primarily played second base in 2022 because the Sox had an All-Star shortstop in Xander Bogaerts, but he's now with San Diego.

Story had elbow surgery this winter, specifically an internal bracing procedure on his right ulnar collateral ligament. It was a less drastic procedure than the full ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction known as Tommy John surgery. After the surgery, the Sox wouldn't guarantee Story could play this season at all. He apparently started experiencing pain in his throwing elbow just before Christmas while "ramping up" to get ready for the season.

It is expected that Story will return to shortstop full time eventually and will play every other day the rest of this week with the hope of shifting to back-to-back games next week. He may play at DH once in a while to rest that elbow. Story hit well in his 13-game minor-league rehab, slashing .300/.417/.700 with four homers, nine RBI and a steal between Double-A and Triple-A while walking at a 14.1% rate.

"I feel really good at the plate, I feel comfortable," said Story, who last played in a regular season major league game on Sept. 11, 2022. "Really all I'm looking for is being able to compete each night and have the timing basis to do that, and I feel like I have that. [My] approach is pretty good, feeling really good with my swing. I think it's time to go. I feel like I'm ready to compete."

The Red Sox have struggled to fill shortstop this year by using seven different players. Primary option Enrique Hernandez led the league in errors before being moved to the outfield. He's since been traded to the Dodgers. Perhaps playing second instead of short played part in Story's slight offensive downturn in 2022, although his season-long numbers always were going to take a hit from not playing his home games at hitter-happy Coors Field in Denver any longer.

Boston didn't make any major moves at the trade deadline because of the impending returns of Story and starting pitchers Chris Sale (who could potentially be back on Friday) and Tanner Houck. The Sox are five games back of the AL's final wild card spot and are +700 longer shots to reach the postseason.

Kansas City will start Brady Singer (7-8, 5.10 ERA) on Tuesday, and Story has never faced him. In his first season in Boston, Story did hit much better at Fenway Park (.251, 12 HR, 39 RBI in 171 at-bats) than on the road (.226, 4 HR, 27 RBI in 186 at-bats). He didn't face the Royals at all in 2022. Story is -220 to record a hit and +140 to knock in a run on Tuesday.

The Red Sox, who won Monday night's series opener in walk-off fashion, start Kutter Crawford (5-5, 3.62 ERA). He has a 2.13 ERA in 50.2 innings on the road this year compared to a 6.03 mark in 31.1 innings at home.

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