The Time for Alex Kirilloff is Now, or It’s Never
Injuries made it a long road to the show for Kirilloff, but he debuted in the playoff series against the Astros in 2020. He then played 59 games as a rookie in 2021, before shutting it down with a wrist injury.
Now, with multiple surgeries behind him, Kirilloff comes into the 2024 campaign with a clean bill of health. Last year, he had a procedure to drastically address the wrist issue, breaking and shaving down the bone to alleviate discomfort. He posted a .793 OPS in a career-high 88 games. With the wrist issue behind him, it was a shoulder injury that hampered him down the stretch, and it may have been the cause for a Sonny Gray-crushing error in the postseason.
The critical error allowed Yordan Álvarez to reach, and the Houston Astros opened up the floodgates against Minnesota. After the Twins stole a game at Minute Maid Park on the road, the entire momentum of the series seemed to shift on that play. After the Twins signed an alternative to him over the winter, Kirilloff now has to prove himself anew both with wood and with leather.