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Kirilloff continues to rake for Twins

Ninth overall prospect hitting .364 in Grapefruit League play
Alex Kirilloff is expected to open the season with Double-A Pensacola in the Southern League. (John Bazemore/AP)
March 17, 2019

Alex Kirilloff hasn't seen game action in nine days, but there were no signs of rust for the 21-year-old Sunday.MLB.com's No. 9 overall prospect recorded his first three-hit effort at big league camp, drove in a run and stole a base for the Twins in a 9-8 Grapefruit League loss

Alex Kirilloff hasn't seen game action in nine days, but there were no signs of rust for the 21-year-old Sunday.
MLB.com's No. 9 overall prospect recorded his first three-hit effort at big league camp, drove in a run and stole a base for the Twins in a 9-8 Grapefruit League loss to the Blue Jays at Dunedin Stadium.

The second-ranked Twins prospect put his squad on the board with an RBI single to left field on the first pitch he saw from right-hander Aaron Sanchez in the second inning.
In the sixth, Kirilloff attacked the first offering again and lined a leadoff single to center off righty Ken Giles. The 2016 first-rounder promptly swiped his second bag of the spring but was stranded.
Kirilloff stepped to the plate for the final time in the seventh and again wasted no time, going after the first pitch from righty Ryan Tepera and punching a ground ball into left with two outs.
"He can do some things with the bat that you don't see very often, and you usually don't see it from a young hitter like that," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli told MLB.com. "He stays through the ball very well, uses the whole field very well and puts competitive swings on pitches that are often difficult pitches to even put in play and be able to do really positive things with those pitches."
The 21-year-old is hitting .364/.364/.364 in nine spring games. Assigned to Minor League camp on March 8, he's expected to start the season with Double-A Pensacola.
"He's an impressive young man and he wants to be a good player," Baldelli told MLB.com. "I believe he's going to be a good player."
Blue Jays' No. 10 prospectCavan Biggio collected a pair of hits and drove in two runs. No. 11 Anthony Alford walked and scored on a sacrifice fly 30th-ranked Cal Stevenson, No. 14 Billy McKinney singled, walked twice, stole a base and drove in a run, while No. 21 Rowdy Tellez clubbed his fourth spring dinger, a solo shot in the eighth. 

In other spring action:


Marlins 4, Cardinals 2
Marlins No. 27 prospect Austin Dean singled and scored a run. Third-ranked Andrew Knizner drove in St. Louis' only run with a groundout in the ninth. Box score
Tigers 3, Braves (ss) 2
Fifth-ranked Austin Riley reached on a throwing error and came around to score Atlanta's first run. No. 21 Chad Sobotka yielded a hit in an inning of scoreless relief. Tigers No. 11 prospect Kyle Funkhouser worked two scoreless innings to record his first save, scattering four hits and striking out four. Box score
Pirates 8, Red Sox (ss) 1
Bucs No. 2 prospect Ke'Bryan Hayes singled and scored on a base hit by sixth-ranked Kevin Kramer in the eighth inning. No. 24 Nick Burdi tossed two perfect innings and registered a punchout. Box score
Nationals 10, Mets 5
Top Nationals prospect Victor Robles singled in three at-bats and is hitting .351 this spring. Top Mets prospect Pete Alonso ripped a two-run homer, his team-leading fourth Grapefruit League roundtripper. Ryley Gilliam (No. 22), the Mets' fifth-round pick in last year's Draft, made his spring debut and surrendered three runs on three hits in one inning. Box score
Yankees (ss) 5, Orioles 3
Jonathan Loaisiga bounced back from a poor start with three scoreless innings. The Yankees' No. 2 prospect yielded a hit and a walk without registering a strikeout. No. 19 Thairo Estrada singled and walked and is batting .364 through 22 at-bats for New York. Box score
Yankees (ss) 7, Phillies 3
Yankees prospects Oswaldo Cabrera, Diego Castillo and Pablo Olivares -- all 21 or under -- combined to go 3-for-4 with two RBIs and a run scored. Box score
Red Sox (ss) 3, Rays 2
No. 23 Red Sox prospect Colten Brewer yielded a hit and a walk over two innings of scoreless relief. No. 12 Durbin Feltman surrendered a hit and two walks and fanned two while retiring two batters. Rays No. 18 prospect Colin Poche was roughed up in his lone inning, surrendering two runs on three hits with a pair of strikeouts to take the loss. No. 20 Taylor Walls doubled in his only at-bat for Tampa Bay. Box score
Astros 7, Braves (ss) 3
Framber Valdez -- Houston's No. 11 prospect -- allowed two hits and hit a batter while striking out four over four scoreless innings in his fifth spring appearance. Ninth-ranked Cionel Pérez struck out two in a scoreless fifth but found trouble in the next frame. The 22-year-old gave up a three-run homer to Freddie Freeman while retiring one batter. No. 13 Ronnie Dawson stroked an RBI single and scored a run, while 16th-ranked Myles Straw doubled, stole a base and scored. Box score
Indians 9, Reds 9
Indians No. 29 prospect Eric Haase hit a two-run double in the ninth inning to raise his Cactus League average to .333. No. 19 Oscar Mercado and 23rd-ranked Jose Fermin each scored a run. Top Reds prospect Nick Senzel reached on catcher's interference in his first at-bat and stole second on the next pitch. MLB.com's No. 6 overall prospect has swiped three bags this spring. Box score
Rockies 7, Cubs 2
Third-ranked Rockies prospect Garrett Hampson went 2-for-4 with a double, a stolen base and a run scored. The 24-year-old has a .313/.371/.996 slash line this spring, bolstering his case to win the second base job when the club breaks camp. Box score
Rangers 7, D-backs 2
Rangers No. 26 prospect Yohander Méndez threw 2 1/3 innings, allowing two runs on four hits with two strikeouts. After opening the third inning with a strikeout, the 24-year-old left with an elbow injury. He will be re-evaluated on Monday. Box score

Brewers 9, Dodgers 8
Top Brewers prospect Keston Hiura knocked a go-ahead three-run double in the eighth inning. MLB.com's No. 20 overall prospect has a team-high 13 RBIs this spring and a .921 OPS. Second-ranked Corey Ray and No. 14 Mario Feliciano scored on Hiura's double, while Ray came home as a pinch-runner in the fifth. No. 8 prospect Lucas Erceg doubled and scored a run. Top Dodgers prospect Alex Verdugo stayed hot with a double in the sixth and scored on 27th-ranked Cristian Santana's second hit of the spring. Box score
Padres 6, Angels 2
Padres No. 3 prospect Luis Urías singled in three at-bats. Dodgers No. 26 prospect Jake Jewell tossed a scoreless inning, allowing a hit and striking out one, to lowers his ERA to 2.16 as he vies for a spot on the big league club. Box score
D-backs 7, White Sox 3
D-backs No. 20 prospect Marcus Wilson put the game out of reach with a two-run homer in the eighth inning, his first hit of the spring in four at-bats. No. 14 Yoan López threw a perfect eighth, striking out one. Box score