As the Minnesota Twins inch toward the midway point of the 2026 season, one of the most exciting storylines will be the progress of Kaelen Culpepper.
The Twins’ first-round pick in the 2024 draft has been knocking on the door with his performance at Triple-A St. Paul and a path appeared to open when Orlando Arcia was designated for assignment on Sunday afternoon. But just as a spot appeared in the Twins’ infield, Culpepper wasn’t able to take advantage after suffering a sore glute during this weekend’s series against the Toledo Mud Hens.
The Athletic’s Dan Hayes noted that the Twins are taking the injury “as a day-to-day situation” and are hoping he’ll be able to avoid a stint on the injured list. But he also said Culpepper “could be sidelined for several days” due to the injury, which makes this setback come at an unfortunate time.
Kaelen Culpepper’s injury could pump the brakes on potential Twins promotion
The Twins infield is a fluid situation but has started to sort itself out in the past couple of weeks. Brooks Lee’s move to third base and Royce Lewis’s move to the left side of the diamond have been two big changes from how Minnesota looked on opening day. While Luke Keaschall has struggled at second base, his bat has kept him the starter and the biggest question at shortstop.
Ryan Kriedler and Tristan Gray have provided enough offensive value to get the job done, but their defense has been a big problem, combining for nine errors this season. With Brooks Lee also making five errors and registering a minus-7 in defensive runs saved, it wouldn’t take much for an upgrade and Culpepper was poised to make that happen.
Culpepper is hitting .273/.377/.498 with 14 homers, 43 RBI and 15 RBI in 61 games in St. Paul this season. While he’s also spent time at second and third base, shortstop is his most likely path to the majors and there was a chance the hopes of a promotion skyrocketed when Arcia was DFA’d this weekend.
This could wind up being nothing if Culpepper is back in a couple of days. But Twins fans can’t be blamed if they fear the worst. Walker Jenkins and Emmanuel Rodriguez have missed significant time due to injury this season and while there is a log jam in the Twins outfield, either top prospect could have made their way to the majors as Matt Wallner and Austin Martin have failed to seize the right field job this season.
Jenkins has at least returned to the field, smashing a home run during a rehab assignment as he recovers from a shoulder injury. But Rodriguez continues to be sidelined after having surgery on his thumb. Culpepper’s injury isn’t feared to be that severe, but the Twins have had minor injuries turn into bigger issues before, which makes it something worth monitoring.
The good news is that Culpepper’s injury shouldn’t keep him from reaching the major leagues this season. If he’s back in a few days, there’s a good chance he could be promoted by the end of the month. But it’s also inconvenient to be placed on the shelf just as a domino fell in the Twins infield. For now, outfielder Kyler Fedko will take that spot, but Culpepper could be the next in line to be promoted if he’s able to have a quick recovery from his latest setback.
Add us as a preferred source on Google