Twins Fans Already Clamoring For Top Hitting Prospects to Be Called Up

Nine games into the season, the Twins' offense has barely registered a pulse. They're 3-6 and have been held to a single run in four of those losses, including each of their last two games against the Rays (in which they put up six total hits in 19 innings). Minnesota ranks dead last in MLB with a .192 batting average and is 25th in OPS.

Meanwhile, just across the Mississippi, some of the Twins' top hitting prospects are already making plenty of noise for the Triple-A St. Paul Saints. The combination of those two things has led to early clamoring from fans for the star prospects to be called up to the big-league lineup.

While the Twins' lineup was sputtering again on Sunday afternoon, Saints shortstop Kaelen Culpepper was flexing his muscles. He led off the first game of a doubleheader against the Worcester Red Sox with a blast out to left field off of Payton Tolle, a top-five pitching prospect in baseball.

This is what they call ambushing. Two top 100 prospects going at it and @thechosen1kc (#52 overall) takes the first pitch of the bottom of the first inning and goes deep off Payton Tolle (#19 overall) to put us up 1-0. Culpepper's second long ball of the season pic.twitter.com/McJXIoHuJZ
— St. Paul Saints (@StPaulSaints) April 5, 2026

Then, in game two, Culpepper lofted a three-run homer into the same bullpen to get the Saints back into the contest. Eight games into his Triple-A career, the Twins' No. 2 prospect and 2024 first-round pick is hitting .294 with three homers and a .927 OPS.

He homered in Game 1 of the doubleheader. He has now homered in Game 2. This a three-run shot to left by @thechosen1kc , his 3rd of the season, and we've gone from being down 8-1 to cutting the deficit to 2. Fourth time in his career he's homered in back-to-back games pic.twitter.com/zEBvdTA8ia
— St. Paul Saints (@StPaulSaints) April 5, 2026

Culpepper isn't alone. Emmanuel Rodriguez, the Twins' No. 4 prospect, also homered on Sunday, with the ball leaving his bat at nearly 110 miles per hour. He's got a couple long balls, a couple stolen bases, and an .828 OPS early this season.

Walker Jenkins, the Twins' No. 1 prospect, is off to a slower start, with just four hits in his first 20 at-bats of the season. Gabriel Gonzalez (No. 7) is off to a slow start as well, although he homered on Saturday and then had three hits in Sunday's doubleheader. Both Jenkins and Gonzalez have the kind of track record that suggests it won't be long before they heat up in a big way.

With this kind of talent in the Saints' lineup, it's going to be difficult for fans to have much patience with a Twins offense that has been tough to watch so far.

Talent just wasting away down in AAA while the big leagues lineup is stagnant

Make the calls Jeremy Zoll pic.twitter.com/yI33chipfL
— Ryan Linderholm (@LinderholmRyan) April 5, 2026

The 2026 Twins have zero juice.

They have at least 3 players in St. Paul who are no doubt more talented than what they’re rolling out there now.

But we’re just going to sit here and watch the most uninspired veterans for several more weeks to months instead.

Great product.
— Andrew Luedtke (@andluedtke) April 6, 2026

It's going to be fascinating to see how much patience the Twins have with their current lineup if these struggles continue. Culpepper clearly has substantially more upside than Twins shortstops Brooks Lee and Tristan Gray, and there seems to be a strong chance he'd be an upgrade right now. Culpepper has only played eight games for the Saints, but the Pirates just called up Konnor Griffin (the No. 1 prospect in baseball, so not quite a perfect comparison) after five games at Triple-A.

Twins leadership (owner Tom Pohlad, GM Jeremy Zoll) may be weighing the service time clock when it comes to Culpepper and other prospects. At the same time, they might need to call up a prospect or two soon just to inject any kind of excitement into a frustrated and increasingly apathetic fan base. Weather was a factor, but the Twins had some very sparse crowds at Target Field this weekend after Friday's home opener.

With Tom Pohlad's presence being a near constant around the Twins, you have to wonder how long it will be before they call up Kaelen Culpepper or Walker Jenkins in an effort to sell tickets? No idea if that would help, but the status quo isn't going to work.
— Judd Zulgad (@jzulgad) April 6, 2026

When it comes to Saints outfielders like Rodriguez, Jenkins, Gonzalez, and even Alan Roden, the Twins' roster construction could be an obstacle. Matt Wallner isn't going anywhere, and the outfield prospects are currently also blocked by Trevor Larnach and James Outman.

Regardless of the specific details, this is a situation to watch moving forward. If the Twins' bats keep sputtering and the Saints' stars keep raking, the noise from fans is only going to grow louder and louder.