The Twins thought they had a generational bat, but now Alex Kirilloff transitioned to a new career.
The son of a hitting coach from Pittsburgh was supposed to be the next great Minnesota Twins hitter.
Alex Kirilloff had the swing, the pedigree, and the prospect rankings to back it up.
But when he spoke to The Athletic about his retirement, the 28-year-old sounded like a man who had already turned the page.
"It doesn't feel strange," Kirilloff said. "I've completely stepped away. … I'm really content with the decision. What's nice is having another passion to dive into and try to get as healthy as possible."
When a former top-10 prospect in all of baseball says walking away doesn't feel strange, that tells you just how much the grind wore him down.
A Bat That Was Built to Hit
Kirilloff came out of Plum High School in the Pittsburgh area as one of the most exciting high school bats in the 2016 draft class.
He hit .563 as a senior, won the Perfect Game All-American Classic Home Run Derby, and had committed to Liberty University before the Twins took him 15th overall with a $2.8 million bonus.
He rewarded them immediately, winning Appalachian League MVP in his first professional summer.
By 2018, he was hitting .348 with 20 home runs, 101 RBIs, and a .970 OPS across 130 games between Single-A and High-A.
He led all of minor league baseball in doubles, earned a Futures Game selection, and climbed as high as No. 9 on MLB Pipeline's Top 100 prospects list.
Minnesota trusted him so much that they put him on the 2020 postseason roster without him ever playing a regular season game.
He became the first player in MLB history to record his first big league hit in October.
The Injuries That Changed Everything
But between Kirilloff and the career he was projected to have stood a wall of injuries that never stopped growing.
Tommy John surgery cost him all of 2017.
Then the wrist problems surfaced during his 2021 rookie season and became the recurring theme that defined his time in the majors.
His first season ended after 59 games because of a torn wrist ligament.
The second surgery was far more invasive, an ulnar shortening procedure that intentionally broke a bone in his arm to create more space.
That was when he started thinking about what life after baseball might look like.
He bounced back in 2023 with career highs in home runs and RBIs across 88 games, but a torn labrum pulled him off the postseason roster.
Then came 2024, when a slipped vertebra in his lower spine ended his season in June and ultimately ended his career.
In total, Kirilloff made seven trips to the injured list and underwent three surgeries, finishing with a .248 average, 27 home runs, and 116 RBIs across just 249 games.
Walking Away on His Own Terms
Kirilloff consulted three back specialists, talked it through with his family, and spent a week getting treatments in Miami.
When he told the Twins coaching staff, they understood and simply asked him to make sure he wasn't rushing the decision.
Kirilloff has moved into real estate in Fort Myers, Florida, and by all accounts, he's happy.
Former teammates like Jose Miranda and Byron Buxton have spoken about how at peace he seems.
The best thing a player can do is listen to his body and choose himself over the game, and he sounds better for it.