Alex Kirilloff Hits First MLB Home Run

The baseball gods have pushed the patience of Alex Kirilloff, but he’s continued to show a stoic presence and patience at the plate throughout his first few weeks at the major league level. Today was a perfect example. In his first at-bat, Kirilloff hit a ball so hard and with such a launch angle that the expected batting average on a shot like that one was an absolutely absurd .970.

Alex Kirilloff absolutely ripped one to dead CF — 106.1 mph off the bat — and it was caught at the wall. #MNTwins run into bad luck again. That ball had an expected batting average of .970.

— danhayesmlb (@DanHayesMLB) May 1, 2021

For those who don’t do math very well, that’s a 3% chance of getting out. But, much like the many other balls he’s crushed into outs to start his career, that ball found its way into someone’s glove for an out. The Minnesota Twins rookie, however, stayed patient and made sure that nobody caught the ball he hit in his next at-bat.

After his first ever MLB home run, Kirilloff’s batting average is up to .143 but his expected average is way higher. Hopefully this is the breaking point on Alex’ bad luck.

Alex Kirilloff’s First MLB Home Run

1 swing, 3 runs!

Alex Kirilloff goes oppo-???? for his first career homer. pic.twitter.com/4kh2YUt54F

— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) May 1, 2021

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan