Twins first baseman Alex Kirilloff retires at age 26

In a rather surprising announcement on Thursday, Alex Kirilloff of the Minnesota Twins announced his retirement at only the age of 26. The first baseman and outfielder from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania had only spent four seasons with the Twins before making his decision.

Reason for retirement

Kirilloff experienced several injuries playing professional baseball. They included injuries to his shoulder, wrist, and back that required two surgeries on his wrist and one to his shoulder according to Nick Deeds of mlbtraderumors.com. During the 2024 Major League Baseball season, Kirilloff last played on June 11 because of a back problem. In a statement on his Instagram account, he stated the challenges to overcome pain had taken a toll on him physically and mentally, that he lost the passion to play baseball, and could not give complete commitment to the game that was required to play at the Major League level.

Kirilloff’s 2024 MLB statistics

Kirilloff batted .201 with five home runs and 20 runs batted in. During 57 games, 178 plate appearances, and 159 at bats, Kirilloff scored 20 runs, and had 32 hits, eight doubles, a career-high three triples, 15 walks, 61 total bases, three sacrifice flies, an on base percentage of .270 and a slugging percentage of .384.

Kirilloff’s MLB career statistics

Kirilloff batted .248 with 27 home runs and 116 runs batted in. During 249 games, 884 plate appearances and 799 at bats, Kirilloff scored 92 runs, and had 198 hits, 40 doubles, five triples, two stolen bases, 62 walks, 329 total bases, nine sacrifice flies, an on base percentage of .309, and a slugging percentage of .412.

First Round Pick

The Twins selected Kirilloff in the first round, 15th overall, in the 2016 MLB Draft. Kirilloff was drafted out of Plum High School in Pittsburgh. It is interesting that even though Kirilloff played baseball at Plum High School, he never attended any classes there, as he took all of his classes from the Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School. At Plum High School, Kirilloff was also a dominant pitcher as he went 8-0 and an earned run average of 0.74.