The injury bug has once again bitten a top Twins prospect.
Alex Kirilloff was a late scratch before Tuesday’s Twins-Rangers game in Minneapolis due to a right wrist injury that he may have suffered while sliding into second base Monday night.
The extent of the injury is unknown, but manager Rocco Baldelli indicated that it could keep Kirilloff on the shelf for an extended period of time.
“It doesn’t appear to be the most minor of things,” Baldelli said, adding that the team will “hopefully know more once we talk to the specialist” on Wednesday.
Kirilloff is rated by MLB.com as the Twins’ No. 2 prospect, trailing former No. 1 overall pick, shortstop Royce Lewis. The sweet-swinging lefty started his 2021 season with 15 hitless at-bats, but turned it around with four homers in a six-game stretch.
In fact, from April 23 through May 3 Kirilloff led the majors with eight barreled baseballs. That’s a fancy term meaning he squared up the pitch and hammered it. Josh Donaldson and Shohei Ohtani each had seven barrels during that same stretch, tied for second most in the big leagues.
“Alex Kirilloff is now 9-for-26 (.346) with four homers, three doubles, and a .923 slugging percentage since starting 0-for-15,” tweeted The Athletic’s Aaron Gleeman on May 3. “And the 0-for-15 start was full of all kinds of bad luck on hard-hit balls, too. This kid has a chance to be really special.”
Willians Astudillo played first base in place of Kirilloff Tuesday night and the Twins also recalled infielder Nick Gordon from Triple-A St. Paul after Luis Arraez was placed on the injured list with a concussion.
Miguel Sano has been eligible to come off the injured list since Saturday, but the Twins are letting him regain his timing at the plate before inserting him back into the lineup, though Kirilloff’s injury may speed up that process.
