Sunday JULY 15, 2018 B DENVERPOST.

COM B THE DENVER POST 66 SECTION C

SPORTS
Mariners at Rockies»5C
TRIUMPHANT RETURN
Gray pitches like ace vs. M’s

NASCAR: Furniture Row Racing’s Martin Truex Jr. takes checkered flag at Quaker State 400. » 9C

Rest of the Story

R OCK IE S

Andy Cross, The Denver Post

Even an eventual all-star shortstop can use friendly advice from his mentor
By Patrick Saunders The Denver Post
Like a flash flood, text messages swamped Trevor
Story’s smartphone. Family, friends and high school
teammates rushed to congratulate Story when the
news became official last Sunday: The Rockies’ 25-
year-old shortstop was an all-star.
One special message quickly caught
Story’s attention. It came, naturally,
from deep in the heart of Story’s be-
loved Texas. It came from Brandon
Sherard, who has been Story’s hitting
coach, confidant and close friend for
more than a decade.
“Congratulations! All of the hard
work paid off. So proud of you!”
Story’s quick response: “Let’s go,
baby!”
Tuesday night, Story will join team-
mates Nolan Arenado and Charlie
Blackmon at Nationals Stadium in
Washington for the 89th Midsummer
Classic. Entering this weekend’s series
vs. Seattle, the shortstop was hitting
Growing into a consistent hitter
Here’s a look at Trevor Story’s statistics approaching the all-star break during
his rookie season in 2016 and the two subsequent seasons, which
demonstrate how he has adjusted to different approaches from pitchers:
.289 with 18 home runs, 63 RBIs and an
.896 OPS. Story is batting .349 (52-for-
149) since June 1, the second-highest
average in the majors over that span.
It has been a remarkable bounce-
back season for Story, who batted just
.239 in 2017 and set a franchise record
with 191 strikeouts. Story credits
Rockies hitting coaches Duane Espy
and Jeff Salazar for getting him back
on track, but he also emphasizes that
he would never have become an all-
star, let alone a major-leaguer, with-
out Sherard in his corner.
“He knows me better than any-
body,” said Story, a groomsman in
STORY » 6C

NUGGETS

Strengthening the core: Denver

gets continuity with Jokic, Barton
By Gina Mizell
The Denver Post
While populating the Nuggets’
bench early in the 2015-16 season,
Will Barton concocted a nick-
name for him and new teammate
Nikola Jokic.
“He called us Kobe and Shaq,”
Jokic recalled with a smile.
At the time, that was Barton liv-
ing up to his own “Thrill” perso-
na. But less than three years later,
The Nuggets are counting on Will Barton, left, and Nikola Jokic to the versatile playmaker from Bal-
be part of the long-term solution in Denver. timore and the 7-footer from Ser-
Joe Amon, The Denver Post bia reminisced about watching
each other blossom into key piec-
es of a young Denver team knock-
ing on the door of its return to the
NBA playoffs.
The personal reward for Jokic
and Barton? Big paydays in the
form of long-term contracts. But
those deals also signaled the Nug-
gets’ overall commitment to con-
tinuity and natural growth, which
they believe will serve as their
biggest weapons while navigating
a Western Conference that be-
came even more brutally strong
this offseason when LeBron James
signed with the Los Angeles Lak-
ers.
“The West did get better,” Bar-
ton said during Monday’s news
conference announcing his four-
year, $53 million deal. “But I feel
like, with our culture, it won’t be
that hard to make (the playoffs). I
think we showed the team that we
can be. We just need to come into
training camp and preseason with
that mind-set we had at the end of
the year, and have it from begin-
ning to end.”
The disparity between the con-
ferences is now enormous. Every
NUGGETS » 8C