Twins First Baseman Alex Kirilloff Retires from Professional Baseball

Although his MLB tenure got an auspicious start when he was included as part of the Twins’ playoff roster in 2020 and debuted in postseason play, Alex Kirilloff goes down as one in a string of Twins first-round picks that all went sour, From 2013 to 2016, Minnesota made Kohl Stewart, Nick Gordon, Tyler Jay. and Kirilloff top selections. None of the quartet found their way to big-league success. As a group, they have -0.1 career wins above replacement (WAR), according to Baseball Reference.

As has become some mixture of running joke and hard-earned commiseration, Kirilloff joins Gordon, Miguel Sanó, Byron Buxton, Royce Lewis and Trevor Larnach among a seemingly endless list of players who entered the organization as top prospects, only to immediately suffer major, development-damaging injuries that sidelined them for long periods. A few of those players survived and eventually established themselves in the big leagues, but for Kirilloff, the damage never stopped piling up, and his talent couldn’t compensate.

During a career in which he lost significant time with injuries to his elbow, wrist, shoulder, and back (among other maladies), Kirilloff did climb to the majors and flash the potential to hit for both average and power there. Slumps and new injuries repeatedly threw him out of rhythm, though, and the team wasn’t able to rely on him enough to commit to him unreservedly at any point. In parts of four regular seasons, he had just 884 career plate appearances, with a career line of .248/.309/.412—far from impressive or sufficient, for a player who was billed first as a fine defender in the outfield corners, then as a potential whiz at first base, but who was never able to demonstrate above-average defense or baserunning anywhere. In 15 postseason plate appearances, he went 1-for-13, leaving no mark other than by failing to come up with a key ground ball in the 2023 ALDS against the Astros.

We’ll never know how good Kirilloff could have been, but he did hit the ball hard when he was right physically. A product of his father’s passion as a coach, Kirilloff took great pride in his swing, but struggled to adjust and create the consistent lift to tap into his natural power. He played well for a long stretch in 2023 and started scorching-hot in 2024, only to collapse brilliantly and unmistakably. He went so cold from mid-April through mid-June that the Twins tried to option him to Triple-A St. Paul, whereupon Kirilloff informed them about a nagging back discomfort that contributed to that catastrophic stretch. Fairly or not, the perception thereafter was that the team and the player were at odds, and because Kirilloff never got back to full health or showed any sign of being able to help the big-league team thereafter, he fell off the radar in the second half.

The baseball gods can be cruel, and they were unremitting with Kirilloff. He might have been able to do more to make the most of his brief career, but he had impressive talent and worked hard to translate it to production. His body defied and betrayed him so many times that he’s now decided to let his dream go. The Twins, who seemed certain to move on anyway, are left to wish things had panned out better, and to plan a permanent replacement for Kirilloff’s left-handed upside at first base and/or DH.