The tale of Trevor Story began in illustrious fashion for the Colorado Rockies. A pair of home runs in just his first game with the club and seven in his first 10 games brought to light an heir apparent to previous franchise cornerstone, Troy Tulowitzki.

Having early success hid many problems.

In that same 10-game stretch, Story struck out 17 times. For the entire season — a 97-game slate due to injury — he struck out 130 times, following it up in his sophomore campaign with a National League-leading 191.

Changes have been made since then.

No, the whiffs didn’t completely dissipate, but the underlying factors that plagued Story early, have.

In his first two seasons, Story made contact on fewer than 70 percent of balls inside the strike zone. His swinging strike rate for each season was 12.5 percent and 14.1 percent respectively. Pitchers were loading the strike zone against the slugger, daring him to make contact. When he did, the results were immense. When he didn’t, the team was left without a large part of their offense.

Last year, the transformation began. His contact inside the strike zone rose to 74.8 percent and his swinging strike rate inversely followed at 11.4. Both career-best marks.

The results were the first ever season for a shortstop with at least 30 home runs, 40 doubles and 25 stolen bases. Though Francisco Lindor became the second in the latter moments of the 2018 season, the feat was still momentous.

In his latest stint with the club, Story has already made personal history with a 16-game hitting streak, a spree that was the active leader across the majors. The consistent hitting coincided with a 10-6 Rockies’ resurgence after a horrendous start.

As the trends have stuck in the early parts of 2019, so too has the pace for history.

After his latest three-run home run — a 411-foot opposite-field shot — Story is up to eight on the season already, with five doubles and six stolen bases. If he plays 157 games once again, his efforts are on pace to produce 40 home runs, 25 doubles and 30 stolen bases.

The doubles are sure to rise for the star as the Rockies find themselves in Coors Field more often, a park that produced the most doubles per game last year. 

His splits and the warmer months ahead also predict a rise in long balls.

Last year, across the league, home runs were at their lowest in the season’s first month. Once the summer months rolled around, the totals rose, hitting their apex in August at 989. For the Rockies, the club’s top mark came in the season’s final month (45).

In his career, despite playing more games on the road, Story has more home runs, doubles and triples at Coors. Already set to knock 40 out of the park this year, Story could join the game’s elite if that mark rises.

Among the franchise’s 26-plus-season history, Story has already made an imprint. His 37 home runs last year sit atop the shortstop leaderboard, tied for 16th most by a Rockies’ player.

The record for most home runs by a shortstop in NL history is 47 by Ernie Banks. Through 31 games in that fateful 1958 campaign, Banks was at seven. Alex Rodriguez holds the all-time mark with 57 for the Texas Rangers in 2002. Through the same 31-game sample to start the year, he sat at 10.

Story eclipsing either record would take a jump in his current pace. A mid-June series in Arizona could pad his tally. Even a home series against the Baltimore Orioles — a team that’s allowed the most home runs in the league — could be the answer. 

With his hard-hit percentage (48.9) at a career high thus far in 2019, all-time records are not out of the question.