What did we think of Alex Kirilloff return?

[Ex-Iowegian]

6 minutes ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

I suspect teams are going to stop shifting Kirilloff in a hurry. He's not Luis Arraez but he's also not a pure power hitter. He's a really nice mix of gap power and decent average. He's what baseball needs a lot more of right now, guys who hit for decent-but-not-spectacular power but rip liners everywhere.

 

Sounds like you are describing #7.

[Brock Beauchamp]

2 minutes ago, Ex-Iowegian said:

Sounds like you are describing #7.

Lower average, more power for Kirilloff. I think we should be pretty satisfied if Alex settles in around a .280 batting average given today's run environment. Whereas a prime Joe Mauer would still likely hit well over .300 in today's game.

[Murph]

On 6/20/2022 at 5:36 PM, ashbury said:

Don't blame Alex for something that's Rocco's fault.

Exactly!  Don't blame Alex for not getting to Ramirez "hit" at first base!  He was signed, in 2016, as an outfielder.  He played 49 games at first base in his ENTIRE minor league experience (which began right out of high school) and the rest of his games have been in the outfield.  He is an outfielder!  Rocco puts players in the game out of position and expects them to play like they know the position.  He does it all the time.  

Edited June 24, 2022 by Murph
My information was wrong.

[stringer bell]

9 hours ago, Murph said:

Exactly!  Don't blame Alex for not getting to Ramirez "hit" at first base!  He played 206 games at first base in his ENTIRE minor league experience (which began right out of high school) and the rest of his games have been in the outfield.  He is an outfielder!  Rocco puts players in the game out of position and expects them to play like they know the position.  He does it all the time.  

Disagree. Kirilloff is a first baseman who has played outfield because others can't play any position but first base. He is IMHO clearly the best defensive first baseman that the Twins have. That he is versatile enough to play the outfield only adds to his value, but his best defensive position is first base and he is a good defender at that position.

[Murph]

 

3 hours ago, stringer bell said:

Disagree. Kirilloff is a first baseman who has played outfield because others can't play any position but first base. He is IMHO clearly the best defensive first baseman that the Twins have. That he is versatile enough to play the outfield only adds to his value, but his best defensive position is first base and he is a good defender at that position.

I'm sorry - I wrote that wrong!  Kirilloff was signed as an outfielder in 2016.  He played 35 games at 1st in minor league baseball.  Last year, he played 43 games at 1st (between St. Paul and the Twins.  

 

[Murph]

3 hours ago, stringer bell said:

Disagree. Kirilloff is a first baseman who has played outfield because others can't play any position but first base. He is IMHO clearly the best defensive first baseman that the Twins have. That he is versatile enough to play the outfield only adds to his value, but his best defensive position is first base and he is a good defender at that position.

See my original comment.  Kirilloff (who IS a good hitter) was signed as an outfielder and has played very few games at 1B.  Truly, he is not a good defender at 1B, but Miranda isn't either.  He's clearly not "ready."  But then, the Twins have demonstrated that defense is not important to them.

[RpR]

Why are either Miranda or Kirilloff not getting shots at left field; Larnach's weak arm is a short-coming and at least see how strong their arms are.  Maybe not better but take a look.

Right now all seem to be in a funk but as they are here, with Baldelli's roll the dice format, have a look.