Can't the Twins just stay healthy? Not to say that other teams don't deal with injuries, but it feels like Minnesota gets the worst of it every single year. This season has been especially bad, as Pablo López underwent Tommy John surgery over the offseason, and stars Byron Buxton, Joe Ryan and Ryan Jeffers have missed significant time with injuries.
The Twins were just dealt another injury, as Minnesota placed rookie shortstop Kaelen Culpepper on the 10-day injured list with a left hamstring strain. He exited Tuesday's loss to New York in the sixth inning because of his injury. With just 11 games remaining, Culpepper's season is now over.
As a corresponding move, the Twins recalled utilityman Ben Ross from Triple-A St. Paul. Ross went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts in a short stint with the Twins earlier this month. He will start at shortstop for Minnesota in the series finale against the New York Yankees on Wednesday afternoon.
We have made the following roster moves: pic.twitter.com/rqXFmcR7Zp
— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) September 16, 2026
Culpepper's injury is a reminder of the Twins' biggest issue: they cannot stay healthy.
Twins' Kaelen Culpepper looks like a star but has suffered various injuries in young career
Culpepper has struggled lately but has still put up solid numbers overall since being called up to the majors in early August, slashing .275/.333/.404 (108 wRC+) with three home runs, 11 RBI and 1 Out Above Average over 31 games. For a 23-year-old rookie, those are impressive numbers.
Culpepper also missed about a month earlier this season due to a glute injury that required two separate IL stints. The shortstop also had a brief IL stint last season.
Hopefully Culpepper's injury-plagued season is an anomaly. Twins fans are sick of their team's stars constantly getting injured. Not to mention, top prospects Walker Jenkins and Emmanuel Rodriguez missed significant time with injuries earlier in the year and have suffered various injuries throughout their young careers. It's concerning to see the Twins' top prospects suffer so many injuries already.
If Culpepper can stay off the IL most of the time going forward, he should be a star. Before earning the promotion to the majors, Culpepper hit .271/.367/.478 (117 wRC+) with 14 home runs, 46 RBI and 17 stolen bases over 74 games at Triple-A St. Paul this season. Between High-A and Double-A last season, Culpepper hit .289/.375/.469 (138 wRC+) with 20 home runs, 64 RBI and 25 stolen bases over 113 games. The 2024 first-round pick has plenty of talent; he just needs to stay healthy.
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