AK finally showing he may be the hitter we need.

[Trov]

Full disclosure, I have been big on Alex Kirilloff since we drafted him.  Everything I read on him was he was going to be a hitter.  Defense was secondary but he was expected to be a hitter of high average, with middle of road power, but an overall great hitter.  He was moving quickly through the minors as a high school drafted player, but then injuries and COVID hit.  It is crazy it took until his 5th year of pro ball for his wrist to pop up, being reports are he had a bone that was longer than it should have been.  I also wonder why the doctors never addressed in the first surgery.  AK had wasted years for himself.  

All that being said, whenever he has been healthy has shown that great ability to hit.  He is not a Gallo or Kepler dead pull guy, like many hitters these days are.  He can pull when pitch is inside, but he will go up the middle and opposite field, with power, as well.  I am not saying he is as good of hitter as Mauer, but he has a bit of his approach willing to let the ball travel, but will still be aggressive on pitches inside for power too.  He is still young, and the pro sample size is still small, but when he has not had a bothered wrist he has shown great abilities.  

What is best is so far he claims no wrist soreness or anything holding him back.  If that holds up, he may be in the running for team MVP this year because he appear to be one of very few guys that will give great at bats every game. Yes, sample size small, but he has shown in the past he can be a stud.  He will get pitched differently as year goes on, lets hope he adjusts.  He is still only 25 and hopefully will have many years at this level hitting in middle of line up for Twins.

[FlyingFinn]

Some people on TD have been wanting to DH Kirilloff. I don't understand that at all as he is a very good 1st baseman. And right now, on offense, he seems to be a part of 50% of our runs scored in the past week.

[stringer bell]

46 minutes ago, FlyingFinn said:

Some people on TD have been wanting to DH Kirilloff. I don't understand that at all as he is a very good 1st baseman. And right now, on offense, he seems to be a part of 50% of our runs scored in the past week.

It was an interesting road trip for Kirilloff. He didn't start against two of the three left handers, but got pinch hits in both of those games. His overall numbers for the week weren't spectacular--.273 BA, .788 OPS--but he got a lot of big hits. He didn't walk, and had seven Ks. 

I think he will be a very good first baseman if allowed to stay there. He made two very nice plays yesterday. Rocco has shown he prefers Gallo in the outfield and AK at first when both are in the game. I think that is the correct call.

[CRF]

6 minutes ago, Bigfork Twins Guy said:

One could make an argument that he should have started against both left-handers last week since he has been hot and they both had reverse splits.  I think if the wrist does not act up he will be solid this year and only get better with more at-bats.

Agree. I'd play him against righties and lefties. He can hit them. 

[Jocko87]

2 minutes ago, Bigfork Twins Guy said:

One could make an argument that he should have started against both left-handers last week since he has been hot and they both had reverse splits.  I think if the wrist does not act up he will be solid this year and only get better with more at-bats.

He is fairly platoon neutral for his career and profiles to be the lefty that can play everyday.  That alone is a tremendous value to the lineup that needs as much help against lefties as possible.  I'm wondering though if getting him the plus match-up pinch hitting is more valuable to Rocco than the start.  He gets a little break and is a defensive upgrade over Solano late game. 

[mnfireman]

I don't have too much of an issue with him sitting against left-hand pitching until we see how the wrist is holding up a little more long term. MLB doesn't have a great track record right now of pitchers being able to throw inside without hitting batters, and I would hate to see him suffer a setback due to getting hit by a pitch by a pitcher who has no idea of where the ball is going.

[stringer bell]

5 minutes ago, Jocko87 said:

He is fairly platoon neutral for his career and profiles to be the lefty that can play everyday.  That alone is a tremendous value to the lineup that needs as much help against lefties as possible.  I'm wondering though if getting him the plus match-up pinch hitting is more valuable to Rocco than the start.  He gets a little break and is a defensive upgrade over Solano late game. 

Gallo also doesn't have dramatic platoon splits, but Larnach and particularly Max Kepler, do (have dramatic platoon splits).

[Jocko87]

8 minutes ago, stringer bell said:

Gallo also doesn't have dramatic platoon splits, but Larnach and particularly Max Kepler, do (have dramatic platoon splits).

That makes sense then that Gallo is the one lefty starter.  Give him more hacks just in case and AK the PH chance.  It was odd starting Larnach against Detmers on Friday though. 

[stringer bell]

28 minutes ago, Jocko87 said:

That makes sense then that Gallo is the one lefty starter.  Give him more hacks just in case and AK the PH chance.  It was odd starting Larnach against Detmers on Friday though. 

Gallo had left the previous game with a pretty bad bruise on his leg from a foul ball and I do believe Rocco will protect Kirilloff a little by giving him days off since he started the season late.

[Craig Arko]

But not the hitter we deserve.

[Twins GFP]

Kiriloff should be protected.  TBO I was a little surprised he was not given more time in the minors, considering how much time he has missed and how unsure they still have to be about the wrist. (I am not going to argue medical semantics here, this is relatively uncharted territory for this type of injury).

That being said, this could easily be the reason why he is playing so many "half-games".