Twins' Alex Kirilloff 'close' to resuming normal baseball schedule after wrist surgery

FORT MYERS, FLA. – Alex Kirilloff's recovery from wrist surgery is ahead of schedule, the Twins' outfielder/first baseman said Saturday, and "it's getting close" to being ready for an everyday baseball schedule.

"I'm facing more velocity in the [batting] cage, getting a look at live pitching about every other day. We're getting to the end of the [recovery] progression," Kirilloff said. "The good thing is, every step we've taken here, the more I've done, the better it's felt."

The bone-on-bone contact that required a rare surgery to shave down one of the bones is gone, and Kirilloff said he rarely feels the pain that prevented him from swinging a bat. "It's in a really good spot now for swinging," said Kirilloff, 25, the Twins' first-round pick in 2015. "I still feel it every once in a while, but it's not painful. It's just something you work through and hope your body eventually adjusts to."

The Twins are encouraged with his recovery, too, especially the fact that there have been no setbacks.

"Every day that he's feeling good, that's a great sign. He's adding more swings, he's maybe getting jammed a few times against live pitching, something you can't necessarily simulate" in batting practice, said Derek Falvey, the Twins president of baseball operations. "If he's playing in games in the second half of this month, that would be great."

Especially since it would give Kirilloff time to earn a spot on the 26-man Opening Day roster.

"If he keeps taking at-bats, he could be ready. We could get him five or six plate appearances a day on the back fields, if we need to," Falvey said. "He's on track. The plan is, if he's healthy at the end of camp, he's competing for a spot."

A magnetic resonance imaging test on Nick Gordon's left ankle Friday night found no unexpected damage, Falvey said. It's a high ankle sprain, but only a mild to moderate one, meaning Gordon could return to action in another week to 10 days.

The Twins utility man suffered the injury while playing second base Friday; his foot landed awkwardly as he tried to make a throw across his body as he ran.

Meanwhile, Jorge Polanco and Byron Buxton both took live batting practice Saturday, trying to stay relatively sharp at the plate while avoiding putting the stress on their knees by playing defense. Buxton hit a first-pitch home run onto the left-field concourse against Twins minor leaguer Matt Mullenbach.

Joe Ryan went on a fact-finding mission in the clubhouse Saturday, stopping at the lockers of Joey Gallo, Kyle Farmer and Buxton to ask for their input. What did you think, Ryan asked each hitter, of the split-fingered changeups I threw you?

"I just wanted to see what their take was on it. We have some great hitters who can share some really helpful information — especially a guy like Farmer, who has played multiple positions and caught too, and caught some really good arms," said Ryan, who pitched two simulated innings to his teammates from the Hammond Stadium mound. "It's a great resource to have."

The hitters were receptive, he said, with Buxton even grabbing a bat and demonstrating his point with by swinging at an imaginary pitch.

"I heard some good ideas about adjustments — 'Hey, this one looks great; this one, if you start it over here a little more, it's going to be a more frustrating pitch," Ryan said. "I love hearing from smart hitters about my stuff."

Louie Varland gave up five runs, including back-to-back home runs by Matt Olson and Austin Riley, and recorded only six outs Saturday, and the Twins lost to Atlanta 7-5 in North Port, Fla.

The Twins managed only one single in three innings against All-Star lefthander Max Fried, but a group of minor-leaguers put together a five-run eighth inning rally to make the Grapefruit League game close.