Alex Kirilloff, Joe Ryan, and the Lost Value of Hidden Injuries

[Cody Christie]

Alex Kirilloff and Joe Ryan are supposed to be part of the Minnesota Twins core, but both players have hidden injuries from the team over the last two seasons. Playing through injury is part of baseball culture, but it must change moving forward.

Image courtesy of Matt Blewett-USA TODAY Sports

Alex Kiirilloff was off to an underwhelming start to the 2024 campaign. In 57 games, he hit .201/.270/.384 (.653) with a 86 OPS+ and a career-high 26.4 K%. He provided the team with uncompetitive at-bats and racked up negative value on the field. FanGraphs pegs him at -0.3 WAR, while Baseball Reference has him even lower with a -0.4 WAR. Something needed to change, so the Twins decided to option him to Triple-A to try and rediscover his swing. Unfortunately, the story gets murkier from here.

Kirilloff never reported to St. Paul and was in the Twins’ clubhouse before their series started against the Rays. He’s going on the Major League 10-day IL for a back issue. Twins manager Rocco Baldelli told reporters before the game that communication from Kirilloff’s end needed to be better about the injury. Kirilloff has dealt with injuries, including nagging wrist problems, resulting in multiple offseason surgeries. Kirilloff, Baldelli, and Derek Falvey have been asked about Kirilloff’s health throughout his prolonged slump and the answer was always that the player was healthy. Now, the optics look bad as the player heads to the IL instead of trying to fix his approach at Triple-A. 

Baseball is a game unlike many other major sports because there is less contact, and the season is stretched over 162 games. In every sport, the culture of playing through injuries has been lauded for decades. Old-school managers like to throw around the phrase “rub some dirt on it” and send the player back out there to suffer through an ailment while providing the team with poor performance. Minnesota saw some of this last season with Carlos Correa as he dealt with a plantar fasciitis injury that caused him to have the worst season of his career. He was playing poorly, but the Twins knew about the injury, and there was a conscious decision to continue playing him regularly. 

It’s unclear when Kirilloff’s back began bothering him, but his offensive performance took a significant downturn at the beginning of May. Over the last 31 games, he went 11-for-77 (.143 BA) with six extra-base hits and a 27-to-8 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Some of his home runs came in critical spots for the team, so his WPA was positive during this stretch. However, a batting average below .150 is unsustainable for a corner outfielder. He was becoming unusable to the line-up, and hiding an injury was hurting himself and the team. 

In recent memory, Kirilloff isn’t the only young player to hide an injury from the Twins. Last season, Joe Ryan took the mound in Atlanta after tweaking his groin muscle during warm-ups. He tried to pitch through the injury, but the Braves teed off on him for six earned runs on nine hits in three innings. Instead of telling the team about the injury, he continued to pitch in the coming weeks, but the results continued to be poor. In a seven-game stretch, he posted an 8.63 ERA, with opponents posting a 1.137 OPS with 17 home runs. Ryan was worth a -1.12 WPA before telling the team his groin was bothering him. Minnesota was in the heart of a pennant race, and there’s no question that Ryan’s performance hurt the team’s chances of winning. 

Baseball is a game that takes pride in its storied history, but it also means that it takes generations for meaningful change to impact the game. Kirilloff and Ryan's decision to hide injuries from the Twins is part of a deeper baseball culture that needs to be remedied throughout an organization. Players shouldn’t sit out every time they have a bump or bruise, but players need to disclose injuries to their team to avoid prolonged slumps that can cost the team significant wins.

No player will have a Cal Ripken Jr. streak of consecutive games played in the modern game. Players must make a concerted effort to seek medical attention even if they feel like it is a minor issue. There needs to be a culture shift from the “rub some dirt on it” days to a clubhouse doing what is best for the team. 

How can the Twins foster this culture change in their players? Leave a COMMENT and start the discussion. 

 

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[Fatbat]

Im super confused by the AK IL stint.  He has been getting treatment for back pain for a month by team doctors. How did Baldelli and him not address that issue when they met about getting a AAA assignment?  Doesn’t anyone know whats going on if a player is getting treatment and what the results of it are?  Is it getting better/worse/same?  Mind blown by the lack of communication.

[roger]

Can understand AK being quiet about his back.  Considering how much time he has missed in the previous seasons, expect he just wants to play.  Unfortunately, his body isn't cooperating.

Also is now apparent that his back is why his production went south.  Still believe this kid can be special when healthy.  Problem is we may never know.  Sat next to his high school teammate (shortstop) at last Saturday's game in Pittsburgh.  Had a nice conversation about AK.  Wish I could go back and ask him whether or not AK was healthy during those years?

[Schmoeman5]

Typical.  I do believe there was a lack of communication on Kiriloffs part. Yet at the same time he was getting treatment for back issues. It's even stated that he had a MRI May 26th, so obviously the Twins knew there was a problem. It doesn't say what the results were. Since he wasn't sent down until June 13 the results must have not shown anything conclusive. What's the Twins role here? Do they just ask him how he feels every day? Kirilloff isn't off the hook in any way. Yet I'm not going to rake him over the coal for making a bad decision. Let's go back to last year. Buxton was not healthy to start the season. The Twins knew about that. Yet they still put him at the DH spot until Aug when the results were so bad and the knee wasn't getting any better. It's a 2 way street.

[Shaitan]

AK is lucky the Twins didn't put him on the minor league IL. It would have been harsh, but this is kind of a no-win situation that shouldn't have come to this.

It's also a super weird situation, because when you're performing this poorly you should be communicating with your team. If nothing else, for coaching purposes. 

As far as I can tell from my seats 6 miles south of Target Field, this has nothing to do with Cal Ripken and I don't understand that part of the article. It feels more like the author is trying to connect some dots that aren't there.

[Patzky]

Many Twins fans are asking themselves.. what ailment is Pablo concealing (or unaware of?)

[Doctor Gast]

When you know your players, you know when it's a mechanical or approach problem for some & when it's health problem. Kiriloff is a pure hitter when he's going into a slump, he's ailing somewhere. IMO you don't need Kiriloff tell you he's hurting (because for some reason or another he won't tell you), you can tell by his decline in production. After a week of decline, Twins should have stepped in & said "we are shutting you down where are you ailing?" Back pain is something you can't fool around with. Polanco had back pain in '22 took some time off & he was good as new. Twins should have stepped right in taken action & stopped that prolonged pain & poor production into something quick & more productive.

 

[adjacent]

I read somewhere (I can't remember where, that is why I don't link them) that there were service time issues involved in all this. That is, if he goes to the IL then he is still accruing service time, while if he goes to AAA, that stops. 

[DJL44]

Correa played through a foot injury all of last season and it was necessary if the Twins wanted to win games.

[bean5302]

You know what's also a pretty common thing? A mysterious injury that goes unreported/underreported being the reason for a player not being very good. Da-Nile isn't just a river in Africa.

Joe Ryan was the same pitcher (gave up lots of HRs and had poor results) when he returned from an "injury" last year that didn't reduce his velocity any measurable amount.
Brian Dozier's "knee injury" in 2018 was actually the reason his performance declined.
Byron Buxton's "knee" was the reason he struggled at the plate last year.
Now, it's plausible all those injuries impacted the player's performances, but it's not always the main underlying reason for struggles.

Kirilloff hasn't been a valuable player in any year of his career. I don't really care "why" at this point as he's at nearly 900 plate appearances in 4 years. He's shown some flashes, like almost every player, but the bat flashes are offset by the frequent and costly defensive gaffes. The Twins knew about Kirilloff's "sore" back, and an MRI on May 26th apparently didn't reveal anything concerning.

Back soreness sucks and it can certainly cause problems with even every day things, out of blue, too. If his back is out of sorts, hopefully a short stint on the IL will help him recover as I certainly wouldn't wish back issues on somebody.

That said, the moment he feels better, he can report to St. Paul and be replaced with somebody more deserving of a spot on the MLB roster. I don't think Kirilloff A) is more deserving of time on the MLB roster than Martin/Wallner at this point B) should be rewarded for hiding injuries.

[Fatbat]

26 minutes ago, adjacent said:

I read somewhere (I can't remember where, that is why I don't link them) that there were service time issues involved in all this. That is, if he goes to the IL then he is still accruing service time, while if he goes to AAA, that stops. 

Yes and a wasted option period. Im not sure how that all works but apparently it was important enough to rescind the assignment to AAA and classify AK on the MLB 10 day DL. 

[Mike Sixel]

So many here rip players for being soft, then we rip them for not taking time off when hurt.......

 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Patzky said:

Many Twins fans are asking themselves.. what ailment is Pablo concealing (or unaware of?)

Pablo's been busy designing a vest and hat to replace that low-cost summer sausage....

[Guest]

8 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

So many here rip players for being soft, then we rip them for not taking time off when hurt.......

 

I'm ripping AK for poor communication.  AK's got enormous upside.  

[Schmoeman5]

21 minutes ago, Fatbat said:

Yes and a wasted option period. Im not sure how that all works but apparently it was important enough to rescind the assignment to AAA and classify AK on the MLB 10 day DL. 

From what I read. By rescinding his assignment to AAA and placing him on the 10 day, the Twins still retain Kirilloff's 1 option

[jimmyc]

4 hours ago, Shaitan said:

AK is lucky the Twins didn't put him on the minor league IL. It would have been harsh, but this is kind of a no-win situation that shouldn't have come to this.

It's also a super weird situation, because when you're performing this poorly you should be communicating with your team. If nothing else, for coaching purposes. 

As far as I can tell from my seats 6 miles south of Target Field, this has nothing to do with Cal Ripken and I don't understand that part of the article. It feels more like the author is trying to connect some dots that aren't there.

You know Cal Ripken?  He's the guy who comes to work when he has the flu and gets everyone else sick but gets a gold star for just showing up.  

[bean5302]

3 hours ago, Schmoeman5 said:

From what I read. By rescinding his assignment to AAA and placing him on the 10 day, the Twins still retain Kirilloff's 1 option

They do for now, whatever it's worth.

[The Mad King]

There's HURT

and there's INJURED

players need to identify which is which 

[Trov]

I think younger non-established players will feel more internal pressure, even more so someone like AK, to play through pain.  One, they do not want someone else to come in and take their spot, just as happened last year when Larnach and Polanco came in, Wallner and Julien came in and took the spot from them.  Both this year played themselves back to AAA, but they played well enough to force team to roll with them rest of the way.  CC was getting paid at a level he will not get put down the pecking order for a long time.

When a young player gets passed in pecking order it gets hard to get back to top. Ryan last year should have said something sooner.  I can get trying to pitch through it one game or two to see, but clearly he was off and he should have brought it up sooner.  So should have AK this year, but I can understand why he tried to play through it. 

The problem is in baseball, little injuries affects performance so much more than in other sports, in my opinion.  That is because the margin for error is so small when you compare it to other sports.  When you have a little pain, or a lot, it will cause you to adjust your throw, or swing to try to stop the pain, it is a reflex of the body and little you can do to stop it. 

This then causes you to not be good with location in pitches, or swing and miss squaring up the ball when hitting. I think the team could do a better job of approaching players though when they can tell something is off and try to find out if injuries are the issue. 

[Trov]

12 hours ago, The Mad King said:

There's HURT

and there's INJURED

players need to identify which is which 

In baseball, HURT is basically INJURED more often than not.  Because when the smallest of adjustment to a swing or pitch means the difference between good or bad result.  Your body will, as a reflex, adjust what you are doing to avoid pain, even when just HURT, which will cause your swing or pitching to be off.  INJURED in other sports are that you cannot do the activity you are supposed to be doing.  In football defense players have been known to play with broken hands because even though it will lower their chance of getting an interception or fumble recovery, they can do their main goal of tackling or breaking up a pass.  Running backs can play with hurt upper body because their legs are still good they can adjust.  

Just think about when you have a little bit of pain you have a little wince and move ever so slightly, maybe just a tiny bit, but when moving the bat just a tiny bit will be difference between a barrel and a soft contact or miss completely.  

[LambchoP]

I think twins should try and package AK with someone like Severino and another prospect to get some pitching. We need another starter and bullpen help. Kiriloff is redundant, we already have slow lefty corner outfielders in Wallner and Larnach. Plus Martin has looked good so far and we have Keirsey and E Rodriguez playing like they want a call up.

[Whitey333]

Shame on AK.  Shame on Rocco for throwing AK under the bus when the team has apparently been treating his sore back for weeks.   Bottom line is AK should be traded this summer.  I've backed him for years but I think he has burned hus bridges here.

[bean5302]

On 6/19/2024 at 10:33 AM, roger said:

Can understand AK being quiet about his back....

Yeah. It starts with character, and it ends with flaw.

[bean5302]

4 hours ago, Whitey333 said:

Shame on AK.  Shame on Rocco for throwing AK under the bus when the team has apparently been treating his sore back for weeks.   Bottom line is AK should be traded this summer.  I've backed him for years but I think he has burned hus bridges here.

I think the Twins should have thrown him under the bus a lot harder than they did. The Twins demoted Kirilloff, but he then claimed "injury!" which makes it against MLB rules to demote him. It puts the front office in a messy bind and attracts the attention of the MLBPA and the commissioners office.

1. The injury has the same feel as Joe Ryan's non-injury, injury last year. Pouting because of poor performance so they are "hurt" even though there are no medical signs of a significant injury.
2. Most of us know when our bodies tell us it's time to stop doing something because of pain. Sometimes you can fight through it, but you know when you've hit a wall. Kirilloff is familiar with this issue. Time and time again in his career, and this time he's played through pain until he confessed it (seemingly always as an explanation for a slump). He has experience when he's hit that wall. Now, he's did one of two things: either he lent himself an excuse for poor performance rather than facing his problems or he actively hid the injury from teammates and coaches when the Twins are fighting for a playoff spot.

No matter how you look at it, it's a irresponsible decision which put management under a magnifying glass, created a bit of a roster crunch, and it involved poor communication. I'd be surprised if reporting injuries wasn't something the management have doggedly talked about to the players. The fact the Twins have undoubtedly talked to their players about it, especially after Joe Ryan's mystery tightness last year, along with the way Kirilloff went about reporting the injury AFTER the demotion is the reason Baldelli would admonish the conduct of Kirilloff.

[Trov]

16 hours ago, bean5302 said:

I think the Twins should have thrown him under the bus a lot harder than they did. The Twins demoted Kirilloff, but he then claimed "injury!" which makes it against MLB rules to demote him. It puts the front office in a messy bind and attracts the attention of the MLBPA and the commissioners office.

1. The injury has the same feel as Joe Ryan's non-injury, injury last year. Pouting because of poor performance so they are "hurt" even though there are no medical signs of a significant injury.
2. Most of us know when our bodies tell us it's time to stop doing something because of pain. Sometimes you can fight through it, but you know when you've hit a wall. Kirilloff is familiar with this issue. Time and time again in his career, and this time he's played through pain until he confessed it (seemingly always as an explanation for a slump). He has experience when he's hit that wall. Now, he's did one of two things: either he lent himself an excuse for poor performance rather than facing his problems or he actively hid the injury from teammates and coaches when the Twins are fighting for a playoff spot.

No matter how you look at it, it's a irresponsible decision which put management under a magnifying glass, created a bit of a roster crunch, and it involved poor communication. I'd be surprised if reporting injuries wasn't something the management have doggedly talked about to the players. The fact the Twins have undoubtedly talked to their players about it, especially after Joe Ryan's mystery tightness last year, along with the way Kirilloff went about reporting the injury AFTER the demotion is the reason Baldelli would admonish the conduct of Kirilloff.

I agree the calling injury when getting demoted was most likely a move by AK to keep getting service time.  It will burn some bridges in FO.  However, you also appear to be hinting at both AK and Joe Ryan lying about said injuries and they are just making things up to account for poor performances.  

In terms of Ryan pretty sure the data supports what was relayed, being he was great for long stretch last year, then he was terrible, which is when he reported the injury came up, after rest he comes back and is good again. He did have 2 not good starts in September out of 6.  

AK has been similar, when he reports he is fully healthy he seems to before well, but then he reports he has various injuries, which hurts his performance.  That is most likely true.  The problem is those injuries come up too often for him and it really hurts his overall performance. 

[USAFChief]

23 hours ago, Trov said:

In baseball, HURT is basically INJURED more often than not.  Because when the smallest of adjustment to a swing or pitch means the difference between good or bad result.  Your body will, as a reflex, adjust what you are doing to avoid pain, even when just HURT, which will cause your swing or pitching to be off.  INJURED in other sports are that you cannot do the activity you are supposed to be doing.  In football defense players have been known to play with broken hands because even though it will lower their chance of getting an interception or fumble recovery, they can do their main goal of tackling or breaking up a pass.  Running backs can play with hurt upper body because their legs are still good they can adjust.  

Just think about when you have a little bit of pain you have a little wince and move ever so slightly, maybe just a tiny bit, but when moving the bat just a tiny bit will be difference between a barrel and a soft contact or miss completely.  

Completely disagree. MLB is 162 games, played at least 6 days a week, for 6 months.

Every player in the league will deal with being less than 100% physically during parts of every season.

If you can't perform because of every little ouchee, you have no business in the big leagues and you won't be for long.