Twins minor league players of the week are outfielder-first baseman Alex Kirilloff who has been playing in AAA St Paul and High-A Cedar Rapids RHP David Festa. I apologize for the delay in getting this out this week.
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). This is Kirilloff’s second minor league player of the week honor in 2022, he also won on May 22.
Kirilloff made his big league debut with the Twins on September 30, 2020 in a playoff game against the Houston Astros. Kirilloff spent 59 games with the Twins last season before being sidelined with a wrist injury and started 2022 with the Twins before the wrist injury resurfaced.
Kirilloff has been hot of late while rehabbing with the AAA St. Paul Saints and last week played in five games, hitting .474 (9-for-19) with one double, four home runs, nine RBI, a .565 on-base percentage, a 1.158 slugging percentage and a 1.723 OPS. In 131 at bats with the Saints this season Kirilloff had a slash line of .359/.465/.641. He was recalled by the Twins on June 17.
David Festa a New Jersey native was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 13th round of the 2021 MLB June Amateur Draft from Seton Hall University (South Orange, NJ). David Festa is also a Twins minor league player of the week repeat winner having also won on May 15 while pitching for the Low-A Fort Myers Might Mussels. Festa is currently rated as the Twins 30th best prospect on MLB Pipeline.
Festa was promoted to the High-A Cedar Rapids Kernels on May 16 and this past week the 22 year old Festa made one start for the Kernels on Wednesday vs. Dayton, allowing two runs on six hits in 5 innings pitched with no walks and five strikeouts. In four starts with Cedar Rapids this season he has two QS’s and has a 3-0 record with a 2.05 ERA and a .098 WHIP. In 30 innings he has allowed 22 hits with 30 strikeouts. Batters are hitting just .202 against Festa.