Major slump, minor change?

When does a slump turn into a big stinking mess? For all the numbers crunched in baseball, there is no definitive answer. But after 100 at-bats, you begin to see clues. And what the Rockies see from shortstop Trevor Story spells trouble.

If Story doesn’t find his stroke, and find it quickly, the Rockies will be forced to seriously contemplate sending their 24-yearold shortstop back to the minor leagues for significant rehabilitation work on his swing.

Although Story entered the game Saturday night against Arizona with an anemic .155 batting average and a National Leagueworst 43 strikeouts in 112 plate appearances, the issue is not how much he’s hurting the ballclub with every runner stranded in scoring position. What Rockies management must consider is whether the cumulative effect of all those swings and misses is damaging the long-term future of Story, who could be this franchise’s shortstop for the next 10 years.

A year ago, Story launched 27 home runs and a thousand delightfully silly puns to describe all the smiles he painted on a rookie season that was fantastic by any measure, even when the fluky bad luck of a thumb injury shut him down in August.

But Story has had precious little to write home about in 2017. Too often, it is home run or bust.

With a long swing that starts so late that it catches nothing but air, Story is swinging through fastballs over the plate and chasing breaking stuff out of the zone.

There is a hands-on, active-teaching approach to pull Story out of his slump in regards to “mental approach, physical approach, the hitting-fundamental approach,” Rockies manager Bud Black said.

Maybe we’ve should have seen this trouble coming. The swing of Story has always had holes. In 2013, when he played high-A ball inModesto, Story struck out 183 times in 497 at-bats. The Rockies, however, always saw him come out of a funk before, which gives them hope these bad times won’t linger and fester.

Know what might be the toughest part of a slump for a young hitter? Even worse than the self-doubt is all that buzzing in your ears.

“When things are not going a player’s way, everybody’s intention is to help the player,” Black said. “And everybody means me, hitting coaches, teammates, parents, high school coaches, next-door neighbor, sportswriters, your barista, Uber drivers. … You’re hearing from everybody. What happens is some players listen to it all. And it can be overwhelming.”

Story has not wilted under the strain of seeing his ugly statistics flashed on the scoreboard when he walks toward home plate. There might not be stronger evidence of Story’s mental toughness than his work in the field. It’s obvious he was taking notes as a rookie, because his positioning and anticipation have made him a smarter, better shortstop.

Misery loves company, and Story is far from alone. Has the lumber in the Colorado dugout been invaded by beetles? This team enteredMay in first place of the NLWest despite words I never thought would be written about a baseball team that plays 5,280 feet above sea level: The Rockies can’t hit.

Carlos Gonzalez is off to such a sketchy start that newcomer Ian Desmond might get more starts in the outfield than at first base, at least in the short term. DJ LaMahieu has scuffled, and even Nolan Arenado has suffered through a spell of 25 at-bats where it appeared as if he didn’t have a clue.

“At any one time, we’ve maybe had three guys really swinging well, maybe a couple swinging OK, and two or three not swinging well at all,” Black said. “When teams are rolling, they have five, six guys really swinging well.”

Pitching, from rookie starter Kyle Freeland to lights-out closer Greg Holland, has made Colorado hard to beat on the road. But the Rockies don’t rock Coors Field unless they rake.

Baseball lovers go to Blake Street for the fireworks. And the Rockies delivered Saturday, as each of the eight paid hitters in the lineup contributed at least one solid knock during a 9-1 victory. Story broke out of an 0-for-14 skid by crushing a double in the seventh inning.

This 10-game homestand against the Diamondbacks, Cubs and Dodgers is important as more than a measuring stick for Colorado’s worthiness to hang all summer long as a playoff contender. It’s a stress test for the bat of Story.

He’s too valuable for the Rockies to let him keep flailing away without a clue. If Story cannot figure it out by May 15, then Colorado needs to send him down to the minors for some serious cleanupwork on his swing, before a slump turns into something that stinks farworse.