MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota Twins outfielder Alex Kirilloff announced his retirement on Thursday at age 26, after a series of injuries kept the 2016 first-round draft pick from fulfilling his potential.
Kirilloff was limited to 57 games this season because of a lower back injury, batting .201 with five home runs, 20 RBIs and a .653 OPS. He last played on June 11.
After being sent down to Triple-A St. Paul, Kirilloff reported further soreness in his lower back along with nerve-related pain in his leg. He told the team he understated the severity of his injury because he wanted to keep playing, but he wasn't able to get well enough to return after that.
Kirilloff said in a video conference call with reporters that he was diagnosed with a chronic stress fracture and a slipping vertebrae that could take up to a year to fully rehabilitate.
“It just comes to the point where you have to ask yourself, ‘Should I be playing, and how does it affect my quality of life down the road?’” Kirilloff said.
Kirilloff hit .270 with 11 homers in 88 games in 2023, his best of four major league seasons. He mostly played first base last year, but the majority of his career was spent as a corner outfielder or a designated hitter.
Kirilloff won Minnesota's Minor League Player of the Year award in 2018. After making his major league debut in the 2020 playoffs with the Twins, Kirilloff was beset by wrist and shoulder injuries that he finally appeared to be past in 2024 before the back trouble flared up. In 249 career games, he batted .248 with 27 homers, 116 RBIs and a .721 OPS.
The native of Pennsylvania said he'd been mulling his future for a while and finally came to peace with the decision in the last few weeks.
“These challenges have taken a toll on me mentally and physically. Over time, I’ve realized that my passion for playing the game has shifted. Baseball demands an ‘all-in’ approach, something I’ve brought to every season," Kirilloff said in a social media post. "However, I can no longer give it the total commitment it requires. I’ve always believed that playing this game requires 110% effort, and anything less would not do justice to my teammates, coaches, fans, or the game itself.”
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FILE - Minnesota Twins' Alex Kirilloff in action during a baseball game against the Washington Nationals, May 22, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass, file)
FILE - Minnesota Twins' Alex Kirilloff (19) is congratulated after his solo home run against the Texas Rangers during the fourth inning of a baseball game, May 24, 2024, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Bailey Hillesheim, file)
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Attackers set fire to the headquarters of a Bangladesh party that supported the country’s ousted leader Sheikh Hasina on Thursday night, media reports said. There was no information if anyone was injured.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack on the Jatiya Party offices in Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka. TV stations and other media said the attackers stormed the party headquarters in Dhaka’s Bijoy Nagar area, clashing with party members who were there and eventually setting the premises on fire.
The extend of the damage was not immediately known. Firefighters rushed to the scene, according to Rashed bin Khaled, an official of the Fire Service and Civil Defense. Bin Khaled, who spoke to The Associated Press by phone, had no other details.
The party is Bangladesh’s third largest and was founded by former military dictator H.M. Ershad in the 1980s.
As the attack was underway, a prominent leader of a student protest movement that led to Hasina’s ouster in August said the Jatiya Party should be “destroyed” for its support of her government.
Hasnat Abdullah, the student leader, claimed in a Facebook post that the Jatiya party was “a national betrayer.”
Abdullah is from the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement, which spearheaded the July protests. He also urged students to gather at the Dhaka University and march toward the Jatiya Party headquarters.
Mujibul Haque Chunnu, the party's secretary general, blamed the students for the attack. “People are watching what they are doing with us,” he said. “It is live in social media ... they are doing it publicly, openly.”
Hasina’s Bangladesh Awami League party ruled the country for 15 years, since 2009. Her critics said the Jatiya Party had acted to give Hasina's rule a veneer or democracy as other major political parties did not take part in the elections.
Hasina fled the country to India on Aug. 5, after the student-led demonstration morphed into an anti-government protest movement. Hundreds of students, security officials and others were killed during the turmoil.
Later, hundreds more, including Hasina’s supporters, were killed in revenge attacks or in mob violence across the South Asian nation. She now faces arrest warrants for the killings in July and August.
Muhammad Yunus, a Bangladeshi Nobel laurate, took over as head of an interim government backed by the student group and the country's influential military in August.
However, his administration has struggled to restore order.
Bangladesh army personnel stand guard behind barbed wire and barricades at the entrance of the residence of President Mohammed Shahabuddin after his comments on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina triggered fresh protests in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Mahmud Hossain Opu)
