Alex Kirilloff experienced extreme highs and injury-riddled lows last year. After beginning the season on the 15-day IL, recovering from a procedure that shortened his right ulna, Kirilloff joined the team in early May. Kirilloff is in his fourth year and has yet to play over 100 games in a season.
Kirilloff started last season relatively strong, hitting .273/.372/.395 with four home runs, 47 hits, and an above-league-average 119 wRC+ over 199 plate appearances before the All-Star Break. Besides sustaining an illness that sidelined him for one game on June 4, Kirilloff didn’t endure any meaningful injuries from early May to mid-July.
In the first seven games after the All-Star break, the former first-round pick hit .345/.375/.897 with four home runs, ten hits, and a 231 wRC+ over 32 plate appearances. Kirilloff’s performance was 131% better than the league average, earning him AL Player of the Week honors. He had tapped into his immense talent for the first time since the Twins took him out of a Pittsburgh-area high school in 2016.
Unfortunately, his production plummeted shortly after that. Kirilloff hit just .160/.222/.240 with zero home runs, four hits, and 27 wRC+ over his next 27 plate appearances. Kirilloff’s significant drop in production resulted from playing through a shoulder strain. The Twins put their former top prospect on the 15-day IL with a shoulder strain on July 30, sidelining him until September 8.
Kirilloff played well the last month of the season, hitting .273/.311/.455 with three home runs, 15 hits, and 107wRC+ over 61 plate appearances while re-establishing himself as the team’s primary first baseman. The contact-skilled lefty made Minnesota’s Wild Card Series and ALDS rosters, but he had zero hits and two walks while striking out twice in 11 plate appearances.
In Game 3 of the ALDS, he misplayed a routine groundball hit down the first base line by Houston Astros star designated hitter Yordan Alvarez. That allowed the defending World Champions to produce a four-run inning in a 9-1 blowout.
The Twins placed Kirilloff on the 15-day IL following his defensive blunder. He suffered from pain in the same shoulder that sidelined him earlier in the season. The oft-injured lefty underwent a bursectomy in late October to address the nagging injury. Fortunately, Kirilloff didn’t have a tear in his shoulder, making the surgery less invasive.
Because the injury was less severe, Kirilloff, 26, experienced his first normal spring training since joining the Twins in 2021. Mixing between designated hitter, first base, and both corner outfield spots, Kirilloff took advantage of his favorable situation, hitting .318 with two home runs and 14 hits in 47 plate appearances this spring.
Kirilloff has followed his strong spring with an even stronger first week of the season, hitting .444/.450/.667 with eight hits in just 18 plate appearances. On Wednesday, he topped off his encouraging opening week performance by going 4-4 with two singles, a double, and a triple against the Milwaukee Brewers. Despite generating zero home runs, Kirilloff is hitting the ball hard all over the field.
Kirilloff is averaging a 94.5 MPH exit velocity on his hits, which would be roughly 4.9 MPH faster than his career average if he sustains it throughout the season. Kirilloff is also barreling up balls, as evidenced by his 15.4% barrel rate, which is the highest rate of his career. The only thing keeping Kirilloff from hitting the ball out of the park is his 9.7 average launch angle. If Kirilloff can lift the ball more, he could end up hitting a career-high 20+ home runs this season.
Since the Twins took him 15th overall in 2016, experts have viewed Kirilloff as a potential cornerstone talent possessing a hit tool that could make him a cog in the middle of Minnesota’s lineup for the next decade. Due to a barrage of injuries and poor performances, Kirilloff’s stock is at an all-time low. Many fans have moved on to more exciting and shinier young talents like Royce Lewis, Edouard Julien, and Matt Wallner.
Although everyone has welcomed his hot start, many who follow the team are concerned injuries may plague him again. While unfortunate, fans’ inability to buy into Kirilloff’s success is well-reasoned. That said, what if this is the year it all comes together? His early-season numbers suggest it could be.
