The Twins Finally Called for Kaelen Culpepper

After much anticipation, the Minnesota Twins called up shortstop Kaelen Culpepper on Friday from their Triple-A affiliate, the St. Paul Saints. With the Twins trying to stay in contention for a playoff spot, their instability at shortstop, and Culpepper’s decimation of the International League, the callup was long overdue.

Ryan Kreidler’s slumping bat and Tristan Gray clearly were not the answer. Now, Minnesota’s future at shortstop has arrived. Culpepper started at shortstop yesterday when the Twins played the Milwaukee Brewers on the road. Offensively, defensively, and on the basepaths, he is expected to give the team a lift moving forward.

Kaelen Culpepper’s Early Baseball Journey

Kaelen Culpepper was born in Memphis, TN, on December 29, 2002. He played his high school ball at St. Benedict at Auburndale in Cordova, TN. As a senior, he hit .394 with 30 RBIs and 13 stolen bases. After graduation, Kansas State recruited him to play baseball.

Starting at third base his freshman year at K-State, he produced a slash line of .283/.356/.428 and drove in 22 runs. He made a big jump in his sophomore campaign, when he hit 10 home runs, drove in 41 runs, and sported a slash line of .325/.423/.576.

Culpepper finished off his college career with a move to shortstop. In his final season at K-State, he batted .328, with 11 homers, 58 RBIs, and 17 steals. After the season, the Twins selected him as the 21st overall pick in the 2024 Major League Baseball Draft.

Top Prospect

Culpepper started his pro career with the Single-A Fort Myers Mighty Mussels but was quickly promoted to the High-A Cedar Rapids Kernels. Between these two stops, he hit .242 and added three home runs and 12 RBIs.

He opened the 2025 campaign with the Kernels, but his stay there would be short. The Twins promoted Culpepper to the Wichita Wind Surge, the team’s Double-A affiliate, at mid-season. That year, he was the Twins’ representative at the All-Star Futures Game at Truist Park in Atlanta.

At this point in his career, Just Baseball had Culpepper ranked just outside our top 100 prospects. Between the Kernels and the Wind Surge in 2025, he hit .289 with 20 homers, 64 runs batted in, and 25 stolen bases. At the end of the year, the Twins promoted Culpepper to the Saints to start the 2026 season. He was now one step away from the Bigs.

Culpepper on Fire

So far in 2026, Culpepper has destroyed International League pitching. His minor league slash line stands at .271/.367/.478 with 14 home runs, 46 RBIs, 17 stolen bases, and an OPS of .845. After a slow start following his return from the injured list due to a glute strain, Culpepper went 7-for-17 with three doubles and a triple in his last four games.

He allayed any fears Twins management may have had about his ability to play shortstop at the major league level. Culpepper has a fielding percentage of .984 and has converted 23 double plays, while committing only three errors at the position. He was the complete package for the Saints this season and has only gotten stronger as the season has progressed.

It’s Time

With the Twins’ run production on hold since the All-Star break, now was the time for Culpepper to make his debut. As demonstrated by his overall performance in Triple-A, he clearly has nothing left to prove at the developmental level.

Promoting Culpepper will not automatically turn the Twins into contenders. With Joe Ryan being placed on the 15-day injured list with a glute strain and Bailey Ober struggling, rotation issues will continue to haunt them for the rest of the season. But with nothing left to prove in St. Paul and the team needing to turn the page at shortstop, the time has arrived for Culpepper to show off his talents at the major league level.

And he wasted no time in making his presence felt. In the fourth inning on Friday, in only his second at-bat as a Twin, he launched a solo home run off Brewers starter Shane Drohan. That was the spark that the Twins needed as they erased a four-run deficit to defeat Milwaukee 8-6.