Twins Tidbit: Alex Kirilloff is a Different Hitter Since Returning to the Twins Lineup

Opposing pitchers are not worried about any of the Twins up from AAA rookies so far.

5 hours ago, bean5302 said:

Honestly, I just don't like Kirilloff's stance/swing process. It's really open with his right foot placed further towards 1B than his left foot. In addition, his leg kick seems to result in his right foot landing even further back, sort of like Tsuyoshi Nishioka's left handed swing, using his left hip to rotate his body rather than his core. This feels like it would place a great deal of strain on his hip, knee and ankle and seems like it wastes bat speed to me.

In any case, I'm not bullish on Kirilloff right now. When Nick Gordon draws more walks than you and I see what seems like way too many strike three swings where you end the swing on your knees, it's not a good omen. I'm not sure if Kirilloff is pressing (seems like he is), but his walk rate has been pretty poor at other stops prior to AAA this year. 

Wow, that's a brutal assessment. (Any comp to Nishioka is basically saying "this guy can't play in MLB".) The Nick Gordon comp also seems unfair: Gordon has had a healthy season and three times that ABs; I'd be willing to bet by the end of the season Kirilloff has a better BB%, just like I would expect a healthy Kirilloff to hit for much more power than Gordon, even if right now Gordon has the edge on ISO and SLG%.

Kirilloff has never drawn a lot of walks, but part of that was because throughout his minor-league career he showed that he could hit pretty much anything around the strike zone and hit it hard. You're not going to tell someone hitting .350 to change their approach and take more strikes until they show they can't handle the balls being thrown at him. He hasn't been able to replicate that in MLB for any length of time, but a lot of that has to be blamed on the injuries he's fought through. He's looked pretty good these last 2 weeks, now that he's back in the majors and was crushing the ball in Saint Paul. I'm still pretty high on him if he can stay healthy.

Kirilloff has a sweet swing and makes solid contact. Alex will be a big part of the next 85 games. He is also a decent glove and getting better at first base. Kirilloff is my choice to play 1B for the Twins.

Is the new found plate discipline Kirilloff showed at AAA transfering to MLB? He was almost 1:1 walk to strikeout at AAA this year after being Rosario esque his previous seasons 

Considering the recent content here I would say the generality of the new girl is prettier to be true.

My takeaway from the article is that a player probably needs a healthy wrist yo hit effectively

Kirilloff made some good plays last night, but one game does mean that will be the norm.

4 hours ago, bean5302 said:

Sorry you hate Nishioka so much the mere mention of him dooms a player to futility. 

In any case, Kirilloff refuses to take walks at the MLB level, and had poor walk rates at almost every other stop in the minors. I think that's a valid concern because Kirilloff has a big hole in his game already as he will never provide significant defensive value. If Kirilloff won't take walks, he's not going to get good pitches to hit and he's not going to feast off mistakes at the MLB level. I think everybody should see where this is going.

No matter how glowing the scouting reports and writeups here at TD may be, it doesn't mean he's impervious to criticism. 

I don't particularly hate Nishioka, but he was a dreadful Twin, utterly hopeless at the plate and poor in the infield. I don't see much of a comp there, personally, and even if you only meant to show a casual comparison to an aspect of their swing mechanics, putting those two players in the same sentence carries a significant degree of baggage that I find unfair to Kirilloff. He wasn't just hitting mistakes when he hit .348 in A-ball, and he wasn't just hitting mistakes this season when he hit .359 in AAA (and BTW, his walk rate was just ducky in Saint Paul this year. He's hit the ball well in MLB before having to deal with his wrist injuries (which ruined the start of this season). Kirilloff isn't immune to criticism, but using Nishioka as a comp of any kind maybe says a lot more than you thought, but there's literally nothing good to say about Nishioka as an MLB player. Unfortunately.