My guy is back, but where will they play him?
Gleeman on Kirilloff in the Athetic.
By Aaron Gleeman
Jun 17, 2022
Last month, when the Twins sent Alex Kirilloff back to the minor leagues, they simply wanted him to start feeling, and hitting, like himself again.
It had been just over a year since Kirilloff tore a ligament in his right wrist, and 10 months since season-ending surgery that was supposed to have him fully recovered by spring training, yet the 24-year-old former first-round pick still wasn’t swinging pain-free and started the season with a .172 batting average and zero extra-base hits in 10 games.
“I would look at this as an opportunity for him to go play every day, get at-bats every day,” manager Rocco Baldelli said May 14. “He’s figuring out his new reality after coming back from the procedure and just exactly what everything is going to feel like. (His wrist) probably does feel a little different now. This is a game of timing. This is a game of feel. He’s going to find those things.”
Four weeks and 28 games at Triple-A St. Paul later, Kirilloff has indeed found them, batting .385 with 10 homers and an absurd 1.201 OPS for the Saints.
There had been speculation the Twins would call up Kirilloff for the start of their three-game series against the Guardians that begins Tuesday at Target Field. Instead, he returns one series earlier and will reconnect with the team in Arizona, taking the roster spot of Jorge Polanco after the second baseman was placed on the injured list Friday with lower back tightness.
What stood out most about Kirilloff’s pre-demotion struggles was his inability to drive pitches or even elevate the ball, a stark contrast from the jaw-dropping left-handed slugging Twins fans got to see, however briefly, before the injury in 2021. More than 70 percent of the balls he put in play were on the ground, the highest rate in the AL, and the few hits Kirilloff managed were all singles.
In compensating for continued wrist pain when swinging, Kirilloff had made counterproductive changes to his swing mechanics, which gave him little shot of success. While in St. Paul he focused on working with coaches to fix those mechanical issues and on becoming comfortable with how his wrist now feels post-surgery. More than day-to-day results, that was the demotion’s purpose.
That he also crushed Triple-A pitching for a month, leading the International League in OPS, was a nice bonus, too. Kirilloff rejoins the Twins’ lineup with less wrist discomfort, more confidence and a chance to reclaim his role as an everyday player and a future building block. Despite the missed development time, Kirilloff is still the third-youngest hitter on the Twins’ active roster.
Kirilloff rediscovered his power in St. Paul, slugging .725 with 10 homers and seven doubles in 28 games, including several tape-measure blasts. He got back to being a fly-ball hitter, putting balls in play on the ground just 45 percent of the time, and showed the power to all fields that made him the Twins’ premier prospect and a consensus top-25 global prospect going into 2021.
And in an unexpected but welcome twist, Kirilloff also showed vastly improved plate discipline. He drew 16 walks, along with just 20 strikeouts, over 128 plate appearances for the Saints after totaling only 15 walks (and 64 strikeouts) in his first 263 plate appearances for the Twins. That’s noteworthy because he’s never been particularly patient, averaging just 40 walks per 600 PA in the minors.
Odd as it may sound, it’s possible Kirilloff’s surgically repaired wrist hurting on some swings was a positive thing in this one regard by making him less interested in swinging at borderline pitches. It’s also possible Triple-A pitchers were simply scared of him, especially after he started ripping line drives all over the field, correctly treating Kirilloff as too good for the level and to be avoided.
Whatever the case, though the return of Kirilloff’s power is the headline from his monthlong Triple-A stint, and correcting his swing mechanics was the Twins’ primary reason for sending him back there in the first place, a more discerning eye at the plate would be a positive development as well. There’s some reason to think Kirilloff may have gotten better in St. Paul, not just healthier.
Kirilloff has been healthy for such a tiny fraction of his time in the big leagues that it can be easy to forget how promising he looked before getting pushed off the path to stardom by the wrist injury. He’s a year removed from being widely considered one of MLB’s best hitting prospects. He’s a career .323 hitter in the minors, including .365/.466/.679 at Triple A. And he’s still just 24.
None of that will matter if Kirilloff’s wrist isn’t right, and that’s a question that can only be answered with sustained health and production in the majors. He’s certainly nowhere close to being out of the woods yet, but there’s finally some reason for optimism and, compared with just a month ago, Kirilloff’s outlook is barely recognizable in its improvement.
Here’s hoping we finally get a chance to see the real Alex Kirilloff now, because he still has a chance to be a special hitter around whom the Twins’ lineup is built.
