MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Twins placed left fielder Alex Kirilloff on the 10-day injured list with inflammation in his surgically repaired right wrist Wednesday.
Kirilloff was scratched from the lineup against the Los Angeles Dodgers, replaced by Nick Gordon. Outfielder Trevor Larnach was recalled from Triple-A St. Paul to replace the 24-year-old Kirilloff on the roster. The 2016 first-round draft pick had his 2021 season cut short by the surgery in July.
Kirilloff is 1-for-17 at the plate this year with seven strikeouts, and he hasn’t been able to swing without pain. As a rookie last season, he hit .251 with eight homers and 34 RBIs in 215 at-bats. He tried to play through the wrist discomfort for a while, before the surgery decision was made.
“It’s just frustrating, but I’m determined to try to get to the bottom of this,” said Kirilloff, who has been on the injured list five times in his career for wrist issues, including twice in the minors. “I don’t want to be shortsighted about it. Obviously this is just one long, continuous puzzle to try to figure out.”
He was scheduled to revisit his hand specialist Thursday.
The Twins also designated reliever Jharel Cotton for assignment and recalled reliever Dereck Rodriguez from Triple-A St. Paul. Rodriguez, the son of Hall of Fame catcher Ivan Rodriguez, was drafted by the Twins in the sixth round in 2011 as an outfielder before being switched to pitcher.
Rodriguez became a minor league free agent after the 2017 season and signed with San Francisco, finally making his major league debut with the Giants in 2018 with a 2.81 ERA over 118⅓ innings, including 19 starts. He pitched two-plus seasons for the Giants before bouncing around the last couple of years and deciding to return to his original organization this winter.
“I always envisioned myself as a big leaguer with the Twins,” Rodriguez said before giving up three home runs in four innings of his debut for Minnesota on Wednesday.