On the Verge of Promotion, Twins Prospect Kaelen Culpepper Hits the IL

Culpepper, like Emmanuel Rodriguez before him, has had his MLB debut put on hold by an injury.

St. Paul Saints shortstop Kaelen Culpepper | MiLB.TV

This time last week, St. Paul Saints shortstop and Twins No. 2 prospect Kaelen Culpepper was seemingly on the verge of being promoted to Major League Baseball for the first time. When he left Saturday's Saints game in the middle innings, there was plenty of speculation that he may have been headed to the big leagues.

Culpepper was actually removed from that game with what the Twins described as glute tightness and deemed to be day-to-day. Unfortunately, the diagnosis has since gotten worse. On Tuesday, Culpepper was placed on the seven-day Triple-A injured list with a left hip strain.

Twins placed prospect Kaelen Culpepper on the Triple-A injured list with a left hip strain.

So the call-up talk will have to be put on hold for now.

— Aaron Gleeman (@AaronGleeman) June 16, 2026

Culpepper, like outfield prospect Emmanuel Rodriguez before him, has now had his Twins debut put on hold by an injury. Rodriguez was crushing balls for the Saints in April and putting himself in the call-up mix before an unnecessary slide into first base knocked him out with a thumb injury at the start of May. He's on the 60-day IL and expected to be out for at least another month.

Before his injury, Culpepper was on an incredible heater of his own at Triple-A. He was hitting .368 with two homers, three stolen bases, and a 1.099 OPS through ten games in June. That followed a May where he hit .280 with seven homers, seven steals, and a .947 OPS. Culpepper, the Twins' 2024 first-round pick and reigning minor league player of the year, is at 14 homers, 15 steals, and an .875 OPS through 61 games this season.

It's not yet clear what kind of timeline Culpepper is looking at in terms of recovery from this hip strain. It'll all depend on the severity of the injury. Hopefully it's more on the minor side and he'll be able to return to action for the Saints before too long.

Twins fans would be justified in feeling frustrated by the seemingly never-ending string of injuries to their top prospects. Rodriguez and Walker Jenkins have been slowed by injuries for years now. It's happened to others like Byron Buxton and Royce Lewis and Alex Kirilloff in the recent past. The Twins obviously aren't the only team who has prospects get hurt, but it does seem to happen to them at a far higher rate than you'd expect.

The good news for the Twins is that Jenkins will be back in the Saints' lineup soon. He got his rehab assignment off to a great start on Saturday.

In the meantime, the Twins will continue to roll with Ryan Kreidler and Tristan Gray at shortstop, with Brooks Lee also capable of moving back there if needed. Orlando Arcia was recently DFA'd.