Rocco Baldelli made a prediction as he watched the wind blow at home plate on Tuesday.
“I literally said to our hitting [coaches] before the game, we’re going to have to hit some low line drives today because no one’s going deep,” he added.
It just took him one pitch to be wrong.
Alex Kirilloff drove the game’s first pitch, a knee-high fastball on the outside corner from Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas, over the left field wall just inside the foul pole for an opposite-field home run that gave the Twins an early lead.
“AK has excellent opposite-field power. “He just has that snap in his swing, where he can drive the ball,” Baldelli explained. “When he’s playing well, he drives the ball that way. It’s a very valuable skill.
Kirilloff’s future is less obvious when he plays defence. He has started 97 games at first base, 64 in the outfield, and six as the designated hitter in his career. Kirilloff has been almost entirely focused on the infield this spring, but that is about to change.
“I’ve been working in the outfield,” Kirilloff explained. “Just actually talked to Rocco about it today — I’m going to be starting out there soon, that’s what he told me.”
The Twins’ goal with many of their players is to be versatile, but their desire to keep Kirilloff comfortable in the outfield may be influenced by their recent signing of Carlos Santana, a Gold Glove finalist at first base last season. Baldelli hasn’t said who he prefers at the position, but it shouldn’t be difficult to figure out once the season starts, especially if Kirilloff’s hitting keeps him in the lineup.
“Whoever is the best defensive first baseman will play more at first base. “I don’t know how else to put that,” the manager added. “There will be a determination when the time comes to put our lineups together. Both will play a significant amount at first base, but the player who is doing the best job for us on that side of the ball will get more time.”
Kirilloff said he’s pleased with how the spring is going thus far and loved the game’s explosive start.
“He was throwing away, so I just went with the pitch,” he told me. “occasionally approaches shift, and occasionally you get lucky. I was only reacting to what I saw.
Etc.
Since March 2, 2020, the Twins had not played a game on the Atlantic side of Florida, where the Cardinals, Marlins, Astros, and Nationals train. Such visits involve roughly three-hour bus rides, thus Baldelli made it obvious that he favoured pandemic schedules that had games against the Red Sox, Braves, and Rays, the three teams closest to Hammond Stadium.
* Shortly before the game against his previous team, Cardinals righthander Sonny Grey informed reporters that his hamstring issue from Monday was “nothing major, nothing concerning.” “Just a little hamstring tweak,” which will keep him out of action for a few days.
* Matt Wallner was supposed to go, but stayed in Fort Myers, according to Baldelli, because “our hitting guys wanted to get him a workout at home, a normal workday and not a game.”
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