This weeks Minnesota Twins minor league players of the week are AAA St. Paul outfielder Alex Kirilloff and High-A Cedar Rapids left-handed pitcher Cade Povich. This is the second time that Povich has earned this honor this season.
Alex Kirilloff was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 1st round (15th) of the 2016 MLB June Amateur Draft from Plum HS (Pittsburgh, PA). Kirilloff made his big league debut on September 30, 2020 and has 69 major league games on his resume.
Kirilloff, who was optioned to St. Paul from Minnesota on May 14, played in six games for the Saints, hitting .458 (11-for-24) with one double, one home run, four RBI, three walks, a .519 on-base percentage, a .625 slugging percentage and a 1.144 OPS. On Wednesday at Omaha, he went 4-for-6 with a double, a home run and three RBI. Kirilloff has struggled with a wrist issue off and on in his short big league career. Kirilloff missed most of last season due to surgery on the troublesome wrist but the issue resurfaced again this year. This may be something that Kirilloff will have to learn to play with. In 14 games with the Saints Kirilloff has a slash line of .340/.450/.420. I expect we will see Kirilloff back at Target Field soon.
Rehabbing with Saints, Alex Kirilloff just trying to stay on the field
Cade Povich was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 3rd round of the 2021 MLB June Amateur Draft from University of Nebraska-Lincoln (Lincoln, NE). According to Jim Callis, Povich “signed for $500k, throws strikes, keeps 88-90 mph fastball off barrels, mid-70s downer curveball.” MLB Pipeline has Cade Povich rated as the Twins 27th best prospect.
Povich, 22, made one start for the Kernels on Thursday versus Lake County, earning the win after pitching 5.1 shutout innings, with two hits allowed, one walk and five strikeouts. Povich has 6 starts this season and is 3-2 with a 3.20 ERA and a 1.12 WHIP. In 27.2 inning he has struck out 37 and allowed just 24 hits and just 2 home runs. As noted above, this marks his second minor league pitcher of the week honor this season, the other coming on April 17. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the lefty moving up to Wichita soon.