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Grading the Minnesota Twins' last 5 first round draft picks, including Kaelen Culpepper

How does Kaelen Culpepper stack up with the last handful of first round picks the Minnesota Twins have made?

By Josh Hill |
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Houston Astros v Minnesota Twins / Brace Hemmelgarn/GettyImages
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A lot always gets made about how little the Minnesota Twins do either in the offseason or at the trade deadline, but it should be noted that the team does make transactional noise.

Minnesota plays it cautious — and frugal — when it comes to spending money or trade assets, but usually cooks at the MLB Draft. The franchise prides itself on being able to home grow talent and therefore not have to rely on buying its way into contention.

Last season was a nice little culmination of that approach. Guys like Royce Lewis, Edouard Julien, Matt Wallner, and Ryan Jeffers joined Byron Buxton and Max Kepler as prospects the Twins developed into important pieces of the lineup. Jose Miranda re-joined the party this year while Brooks Lee made his much anticipated debut.

The Twins know how to identify talent, or so it would seem, and added to that haul on Sunday by drafting Kaelen Culpepper in the first round. It’s a perfect opportunity to look back and see how that last group of first rounders have worked out and whether or not Minnesota deserves the credit it gets.

Grading the Minnesota Twins' last 5 first round draft picks

2020 - Aaron Sabato, 1B/North Carolina

  • Round 1, Pick 27
  • Current Team: Wichita Wind Surge (Double-A)

Things got off to a rough start for Aaron Sabato, who was part of a strange COVID class that didn't get the same assessment as he might have in another year. Due to the pandemic restricting what teams could do, front offices were sort of flying blind with the 2020 draft class thanks to not being able to evaluate a full season, and it set back the timeline for most players selected.

Minnesota has debuted one player from this class, but it was Austin Martin and not Sabato who remains in the minors. He's working his way up, though, having been promoted to Double-A Wichita after hitting .226 in Cedar Rapids. He's still a ways off from being in the conversation for a call-up, but he's starting to trend in the right direction.

Grade: C-
Players the Twins passed on: Bobby Miller (LAD), Jordan Westburg (BAL), Austin Wells (NYY)

2021 - Chase Petty, P/Mainland Regional High School (NJ)

  • Round 1, Pick 26
  • Current Team: Chatranooga Lookouts (Cincinnati Reds Double-A)

Chase Petty's time with the Twins was short-lived, but he ended up being a valuable piece for the franchise ragardless. Taken near the end of the first round in 2021, Petty was traded to the Cincinnati Reds less than a year later in exchange for Sonny Gray.

He didn't do much for Minnesota and took a while to settle in with the Reds, but ended up posting a 1.95 ERA last season in Single-A. That earned him a promotion to Double-A in 2024, and while his 5.26 ERA isn’t ideal, Petty has a 6-2 record and 71 strikeouts in 17 games.

Meanwhile, we all know what Gray did for the Twins so it’s hard to say acquiring a Cy Young candidate for Petty was a poor use of resources.

Grade: A
Players Twins passed on: Jackson Merrill (SD)

2022 - Brooks Lee, INF/Cal Poly

  • Round 1, Pick 8
  • Current Team: Minnesota Twins

After a few seasons of picking near the end of the first round, the Twins landed a Top 10 pick in 2022 and used it on a potential superstar. Brooks Lee came to Minnesota with insane amounts of hype but has so far lived up to every bit of it.

Lee had an unprecedented rise through the farm system, at least by organizational standards. Typically top prospects will work for a few years to get to Triple-A, or reach that point and get stuck trying to break into the majors.

Not Lee.

In just one season Lee ascended all the way to St. Paul and was knocking on the door of a promotion in Spring Training. That was eventually answered in July when Lee was called up to make his debut after Royce Lewis hit the IL for a second time.

Joe Mauer, Byron Buxton, and Royce Lewis all needed a few years at minimum in the minors before making their debut; Lee did it in less than two. He’s wowed while in the majors and is on a pretty clear path to securing an everyday role which has been a wonder to watch despite it being such a short amount of time.

Grade: A+
Players Twins passed on: Right now Lee is arguably the best player out of this draft class, which is saying a lot considering Jackson Holliday, Drew Jones, and Zach Neto were all picked this year.

2023 - Walker Jenkins, OF/South Brunswick High School (NC)

  • Round 1, Pick 5
  • Current Team: Fort Myers Mighty Mussels (Single-A)

The jury is still out on Walker Jenkins for good and bad reasons.

We’re just a year removed from Jenkins joining the Twins farm system straight out of high school, but the teenager brought a ton of hype with him when he signed. Some draft experts thought that he could have been the No. 1 pick had he come out a year later, so Minnesota got a steal by drafting him fifth overall.

Jenkins has already been bitten by the injury bug, one that seems eternally hungry for Twins prospects. It’s almost a rite of passage at this point to be hurt, something that Royce Lewis experienced and Emmanuel Rodriguez is as well.

Thanks to bad injury luck out of the gate, we haven’t seen much of Jenkins in action. The very small sample size has been tremendous.

He has a long way to go before he follows in the footsteps of someone like Brooks Lee as The Guy for Minnesota, but the future is extremely bright for Minnesota with Jenkins at the center.

Grade: A-
Players Twins passed on: It’s hard to say who might have been better than Jenkins. Nolan Schanuel sticks out, but it seems the Twins made the best possible pick — for now.

2024 - Kaelen Culpepper, SS/Kansas State

  • Round 1, Pick 21
  • Current Team: N/A

Twins fans might not know a ton about Kaelen Culpepper, but it hasn’t taken long for them to fall in love with him.

Culpepper’s raw reaction to being drafted by Minnesota went viral and it’s starting to draw more attention to just how good of a prospect he is. He became the first Kansas State position player to get picked in the first round, and stood out on a pretty stacked Team USA Collegiate National Team.

He’s not a power hitter but Culpepper finished his season with the Wildcats batting .328/.419/.574 and showing the ability to be a guy who hits a ton of doubles. He’s solid defensively as well, creating a potential path forward where he’s in the mix as depth behind Royce Lewis, Carlos Correa, and Brooks Lee as an infield utilityman.

Grade: B

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