According to the Pioneer Press‘ Mike Berardino, top prospect in the Minnesota Twins’ organization Alex Kirilloff will undergo Tommy John surgery March 8th.
The surgery for the No. 3 prospect in the organization and the 15th overall pick in last June’s amateur draft will cost him the entire season.
Kirilloff, 19, received a $2.817 signing bonus and could be cleared to resume baseball in nine months, according to the Press. This will put him on track to “at least participate somewhere in fall instructional league in September.”
“It hurts,” Twins general manager Thad Levine said. “He’s a high-valued player within our system. He’s 19 years old. He has his whole career ahead of him. The timing is a shame because he’ll miss the entirety of the season but I’m confident … that he’s going to come back and be stronger than he was going into the situation.”
This is a bit of a strange scenario for a right fielder, but position players have had the surgery before. Nationals catcher Matt Wieters underwent the surgery in 2014 and his recovery time was also around nine months.
Kirillof finished his 2016 season with the Rookie Affiliate posting a .306/.341/.454 line with seven home runs and 33 RBI’s.