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Twins Place Alex Kirilloff On Injured List

By Darragh McDonald | June 18, 2024 at 4:40pm CDT

June 18: Kirilloff’s option was rescinded on Tuesday. He is instead going on the MLB 10-day injured list with a back issue (X link via Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com). The first baseman had evidently been playing through the injury which occurred before the Twins made the decision to send him down — thereby negating the option. Kirilloff will continue to pick up MLB service and be paid a major league salary while he recovers.

June 13: The Twins announced that first baseman/outfielder Alex Kirilloff has been optioned to Triple-A St. Paul. Utility player Austin Martin was recalled from Triple-A St. Paul as the corresponding move.

Kirilloff, now 26, has long been seen as a key piece of the future for the Twins. Selected 15th overall in the 2016 draft, he was seen as one of the top prospects in the system and even in the entire league. Baseball America ranked him as one of the 35 best prospects in the majors in three straight years, starting in in 2019.

He made his debut back in 2021 but injuries have prevented him from cementing himself as the big league level. He underwent surgery on his right wrist in July of 2021 and then again in August of 2022. At the end of the 2023 campaign, it was his right shoulder that required surgical treatment.

Those medical issues kept him from sticking with the club for an extended stretch, but he still showed plenty of potential. He hit .270/.348/.445 in 88 games last year, production that translated to a wRC+ of 120.

Ideally, with a clean bill of health, Kirilloff could have finally had his long-awaited breakout over an extended stretch. He has managed to avoid the injured list so far in 2024 but the results haven’t been there. He currently sports a slash line of .201/.270/.384 for the year, which leads to an 85 wRC+.

It’s possible that the baseball gods are being unkind to him, as he has a .245 batting average on balls in play, well below this year’s .288 league average. And that’s despite some decent Statcast metrics, as his barrel rate and average exit velocity are both around the 80th percentile of league hitters while his hard hit rate is 56th. But he’s also striking out 26.4% of the time and has a 47.8% ground ball rate, less than ideal for a left-handed hitter with 37th percentile sprint speed.

Whatever the reasons, that kind of offensive output isn’t acceptable for Kirilloff. He isn’t considered a strong defender, either at first base or in the outfield, and needs the bat to carry his profile. With the results not coming so far this year, the Twins have decided he needs to work on things in St. Paul.

It’s the third time this year that the club has decided to send down a guy they were hoping to be a lineup mainstay, as Matt Wallner and Edouard Julien have also been optioned this year after some struggles. With the club clinging to the final Wild Card spot, their lack of patience is certainly understandable.

Carlos Santana has been getting the bulk of the playing time at first base, with José Miranda in the mix as well. The outfield corners should be manned by some combination of Max Kepler, Trevor Larnach, Manuel Margot, Willi Castro and Martin for the time being, though Wallner or Kirilloff could work their way back into the mix if they post good results in Triple-A or if an injury opens up a need.

Kirilloff came into this year with one of his three option years remaining. A player needs to spend 20 days on optional assignment in order to use one up. He’ll be optionable for the rest of 2024 regardless but will be out of options next year if he doesn’t get recalled in the next three weeks.

He also began this campaign with his service time clock at two years and 141 days. He qualified for arbitration at the end of last season as a Super Two player and is earning $1.35MM here in 2024. He’ll be due a modest raise in arbitration this coming winter. The Twins will likely tender him a contract based on his potential and past prospect status, but he’ll have a tenuous hold on a roster spot given his struggles, especially if he is out of options.

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53 Comments

  1. SweetBabyRayKingsThickThighs

    1 year ago

    At least Kirilloff doesn’t have to wear those city connects now

    23
    Reply
    • Roidville Slugger

      1 year ago

      Now see, as much as I despise the city connects, that’s one I actually kind of like…

      Reply
      • b00giem@n

        1 year ago

        Agreed. I mean look at San Diego, LA, Colorado, pretty much every one sucks. Twins are ok..
        -Reds Fan

        Reply
  2. SODOMOJO

    1 year ago

    I feel for him with the injury history but he really needed to show up this year in order to cement his spot.

    3
    Reply
    • cr4

      1 year ago

      Met him Low A he was a really cool guy especially because at the time Royce Lewis was there too so everyone was focused on him. But Kirilloff stayed around after words signed autos and talked to fans. Really sucks to see his career go down like this so far but he’s young and has shown flashes of that star prospect so hopefully he’ll tap into it at some point

      5
      Reply
  3. DarkSide830

    1 year ago

    Kirilloff feels like a future Pirate to me.

    4
    Reply
    • Blue Baron

      1 year ago

      Or Angel.

      Reply
    • mrperkins

      1 year ago

      That would be going home for him. Born in Pittsburgh and graduated high school there

      1
      Reply
      • Blue Baron

        1 year ago

        @mrperkins: But where a player is from rarely enters into where he ends up playing, except with the occasional veteran free agent, which he isn’t.

        1
        Reply
      • User 1404051815

        1 year ago

        Dad was a good hitting coach in this area. Yeah, it would be nice to see him come home. Not like the Pirates have a better alternative beyond Reynolds

        Reply
    • SweetBabyRayKingsThickThighs

      1 year ago

      He’s got future Brewer written all over him

      Reply
      • Chuck from Uniontown

        1 year ago

        I could see it. 2 years in Milwaukee with middling numbers but hitting 350/450/600 against Pittsburgh.

        1
        Reply
        • User 1404051815

          1 year ago

          The “Ian Happ Effect”. Yeah. Good call

          Reply
    • tonyhoag

      1 year ago

      He’s from there so i could totally see that

      Reply
    • case

      1 year ago

      Are the Pirates in the market for Soviet spies?!?!

      Reply
      • Blue Baron

        1 year ago

        Huh?

        Reply
  4. bkbk

    1 year ago

    Yea, big change of scenery guy now. What about a Jose Suarez x Kirloff challenge trade?

    Reply
    • Blue Baron

      1 year ago

      Who’s Jose Suarez? The young Angels pitcher?

      Reply
      • bkbk

        1 year ago

        Yea. Hes definitely going to be traded and if the Angels trade Ward, theyre def gonna need another OF

        Reply
        • kellin

          1 year ago

          Jose Suarez is 26. I guess that’s still young? But I think I would take that trade just to get rid of Suarez. I doubt the Twins would take that trade, though.

          1
          Reply
        • Tigers3232

          1 year ago

          Kirilloff himself is 26

          Reply
  5. martras

    1 year ago

    He’s been overrated by Twins fans for years. There was some hope last year before the shoulder, but the front office clearly didn’t have a lot of faith in him or Miranda when they went out and signed barely roster worthy Carlos Santana despite money being tight.

    4
    Reply
    • Adam 15

      1 year ago

      He was a borderline top 10 prospect. I don’t think he was overrated.

      Reply
      • martras

        1 year ago

        Kinda proving my point here, man.

        Reply
        • Slage8

          1 year ago

          If it’s wrong for fans to be excited for top prospects, who should they be excited for?

          Reply
    • refereemn77

      1 year ago

      He was rated highly by outside scouts too. An example of injury issues and sometimes we learn that a great prospect is really a AAAA player. Better than triple A, but not good enough for MLB

      3
      Reply
  6. Old York

    1 year ago

    Decent Quadruple-A player.

    1
    Reply
    • SkipperLou

      1 year ago

      So a future White Sox?

      3
      Reply
      • Old York

        1 year ago

        SkipperLou

        Who knows. Maybe a change of city will make him a 20 WAR per season player…

        or a single-A superstar.

        Reply
  7. User 1939973770

    1 year ago

    Jake Meyers for Alex Kirilloff?

    Reply
  8. Mikenmn

    1 year ago

    He’s 26. At some point he’s not a prospect anynore

    4
    Reply
    • mohoney

      1 year ago

      I think that point is now.

      5
      Reply
  9. fletch

    1 year ago

    Kirilloff needs to get away from the putrid Rooco and he will be a star.

    Reply
    • martras

      1 year ago

      Didn’t know Baldelli was secretly putting on Kirilloff’s uniform? That’s some serious insider info!

      Not a fan of Baldelli, but the Twins have seemingly shielded Kirilloff from facing LHP as much as possible to give him the very best chance to stick.

      1
      Reply
  10. Johnny utah

    1 year ago

    Adell, torkelson, vaughn, kiriloff
    Highly touted prospects
    just never found their footing in the majors

    3
    Reply
    • pohle

      1 year ago

      adell of the 440ft bomb yesterday?

      Reply
      • Johnny utah

        1 year ago

        adell of the .190 average yes

        4
        Reply
        • martras

          1 year ago

          also Adell of the .261 on base percentage (.260 career). OOOfffffda.

          Reply
  11. its_happening

    1 year ago

    Would take a shot on him if I am the Blue Jays. Drop Vogelbach. Find out if he responds to the change of scenery.

    1
    Reply
  12. Domingo111

    1 year ago

    I think he does have some talent but like 90% of the twins prospects he is extremely injury prone and thus probably never able to really get into a rhythm. What is it with every home grown twins hitter being so injury prone? Just bad luck? Or have they been making mistakes in scouting and development?

    Who was the last durable home grown hitter the twins have developed?

    2
    Reply
    • refereemn77

      1 year ago

      A lot of teams struggle with injuries.

      Reply
    • martras

      1 year ago

      Edouard Julien. Matt Wallner, though both had their struggles this year.

      Reply
  13. HeadHunter

    1 year ago

    Mets trade Brett Baty straight up for Kirilloff

    Reply
  14. Jacksson13

    1 year ago

    Before he reports, send him down to the Mayo Clinic for an absolute and complete physical to ensure there are no underlying physical issues that are taking away from his performance. THEN figure out what PRIMARY position he is to play and keep him at that position day in and day out.
    First Base?
    Left Field?
    Right Field?
    Designated Hitter?

    Reply
    • refereemn77

      1 year ago

      Mayo Clinic Sport Medicine is one block from Target Field. Doesn’t even have to go down to Rochester.

      1
      Reply
    • martras

      1 year ago

      His primary position is DH because of his defensive weaknesses. He hasn’t ever really hit well enough to justify a roster spot at DH, though.

      He’s not hurt, he’s just making it look like all the performance shortfalls in he past where he got the benefit of the doubt weren’t actually injury related.

      There’s not really time for the Twins to rebuild Kirilloff’s defense at any positions, and also rebuild his plate approach so I think they’ll probably let him spend a couple months in AAA trying to make some last ditch efforts to go for a more power oriented swing to make up for his low OBP skills.

      Reply
    • ohyeadam

      1 year ago

      Looks like they took your advice lol

      Reply
  15. Ddubbl

    1 year ago

    Just a sad reminder- We lost BELOVED Eddie Rosario of La Bomba Squad to make room for Kiriloff. He was supposed to be this new HR hitter/ outfielder with a high ceiling. Then they realized he couldn’t throw from out there/ injuries so they moved him to 1st. Then the bone being shaved down..etc. when he does hit it out, it’s beautiful. I hope he can find his groove.

    1
    Reply
  16. LambchoP

    1 year ago

    I think Wallner and Larnach are ahead of him on the depth chart now. I say we package AK with some blocked prospects like Severino or Helman to aquire some solid starting pitching like Luzardo or Crochet.

    Reply
    • martras

      1 year ago

      You’re thinking some low value cast offs can be piled up and shipped for a quality starter? To get a quality starter, teams need to trade high quality pieces back.

      2
      Reply
  17. martras

    1 year ago

    Back injury now, is it? Who knows what the deal with Kirilloff is? The Twins seem so guarded with injuries as if each player is a starting NFL quarterback teams are preparing to play against. One way or another, Kirilloff has never produced much in any season he’s played. I know his fans keep pointing to injuries, but eventually, it doesn’t matter why he doesn’t produce. He just doesn’t.

    1
    Reply
    • BirdieMan

      1 year ago

      Ultimately it’s about results, or you just end up being a cast off.

      Reply
  18. cman

    1 year ago

    “baseball gods”? There is no god(s) only satan and we should worship him.

    Reply

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