Kirilloff vows to 'do a better job of communicating' after IL hiccup

MINNEAPOLIS -- The primary reason behind the Twins’ confusion regarding Alex Kirilloff’s deep underperformance this season had been that they’d never seen him hit this poorly, at any level, unless he was injured -- and they’d maintained all along that they thought he was finally healthy.

It turns out that he was, in fact, injured.

Though Kirilloff had been optioned down to Triple-A St. Paul last Thursday to address those struggles, the Twins instead rescinded the option and placed him on the Major League 10-day injured list for what is currently deemed an unspecified back issue. Kirilloff will seek a second opinion and determine next steps from a back specialist.

“The communication on that, if that was something that was worsening and he was unable to play, does need to be better and something he needs to be able to bring up and say,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “He had the opportunity to do it. Hopefully, we can do that better next time.”

Kirilloff had been undergoing some treatment for back soreness this season, but that alone didn’t raise any significant alarm, Baldelli said, even after an MRI on May 26. Many -- if not most -- players in a big league clubhouse play through dings over the course of a 162-game season that don’t rise to the level of an injury that would necessitate an IL stint.

But this back issue worsened, Kirilloff said, since he first started feeling it in earnest roughly a month ago, and he and Baldelli agreed that the Twins hadn’t necessarily been made aware of that. Kirilloff said he’s now feeling soreness and pain in his lower back, coupled with related nerve issues that have started running down his leg.

He had the chance to bring it up to Baldelli when he was brought to the office for that conversation regarding the option down to Triple-A but did not, and perhaps attributed that in part to his surprise at being optioned at the time, though he ultimately took responsibility for the lack of communication.

“When we talked, we talked about hitting, and that's kind of where my focus was and how I was going to fix that,” Kirilloff said. “Just got lost in communication at the time. I'll just learn from it and do a better job moving forward.”

The Twins have dealt with issues like this in the recent past, including when Joe Ryan underperformed through what was later revealed to be a groin issue last summer. Trevor Larnach also struggled as he attempted to play through a core injury in 2022.

And for Kirilloff, this season was an important chance to assert himself as the impact left-handed bat the Twins have always hoped he would be, with recurring right wrist issues, then a right shoulder issue, hampering him on the field as he attempted to establish himself as an everyday big league player every season from 2021-23, which had all been cut short by IL stints.

When healthy, Kirilloff had typically been the hitter who sprayed hard line drives all over the field -- but when struggling with the wrist, those swings were much less impactful. This season, Kirilloff’s ability to square up hittable pitches had been diminished, leading to the .201/.270/.384 slash line he put up before what had been, at the time, his option to Triple-A.

“I think the big thing is not being able to prepare to swing the amount that I wanted to,” Kirilloff said. “That was kind of a big part of it, and then obviously, some apprehension at times with fully letting yourself go and taking your ‘A’ swing.”

Kirilloff still isn’t sure of his return timeline, but said he’s not worried about the possibility of surgery. He said he understood the need to take this as another learning experience in his continued establishment in the Majors.

“It's kind of hard to say something when you want to be out there every day, but at the same time, things need to be communicated at a high level here, especially when we're all trying to compete to win a championship,” Kirilloff said. “So I just need to do a better job of communicating how I'm feeling and what's going on with that process so that something like this doesn't happen again.”