The Minnesota Twins promoted right-handed pitching prospect C.J. Culpepper to Triple-A St. Paul on Tuesday after he posted a 3.22 ERA with a 27.1% strikeout rate and 10.4% walk rate in 22 1/3 innings across six starts with Double-A Wichita this season. In his Saints debut on Thursday, Culpepper, MLB Pipeline's No. 22 overall Twins prospect, pitched two scoreless innings of relief while allowing one hit and one walk with two strikeouts.
While 59 of Culpepper's 62 career minor-league appearances were starts, it seemed inevitable that the Twins would convert the righty to a reliever. He didn't make it past the fourth inning in any of his six starts this year, and only did so in four of his 17 starts in 2025. After logging 86 innings in 2023, Culpepper posted just 58 1/3 innings in 2024 and 59 1/3 innings in 2025 due to a forearm strain and nerve issue, respectively.
It feels that Minnesota's decision to have Culpepper begin his Saints career as a reliever is to prepare him to eventually join the Twins' struggling bullpen, which ranks 29th in ERA (5.81) and last in batting average against (.276) as of Friday morning. A strong couple of months pitching out of St. Paul's bullpen should be enough for Culpepper to earn a promotion to the big leagues.
Culpepper has had solid results thus far in his professional career
In his first full professional season (2023), Culpepper, 24, posted a 3.56 ERA with a 24.9% strikeout rate and 8.7% walk rate in 21 starts across both Single-A levels. He spent the following season in High-A and Double-A, pitching to a 3.55 ERA with a 26.8% strikeout rate and 7.5% walk rate across 16 outings (15 starts). He then had great results in 2025 despite below-average strikeout (19.5%) and walk (13%) rates, posting a 2.65 ERA over 15 starts with Double-A Wichita.
Culpepper throws a mid-90s fastball that has occasionally reached 97-98 mph. His best swing-and-miss pitch is a low-80s sweeper. He can also throw a solid high-80s/low-90s cutter and has occasionally mixed in a curveball and changeup.
Since he's mainly been a starter, Culpepper could throw multiple innings out of the bullpen for the Twins when he earns a promotion to the majors. While Minnesota's bullpen is currently a mess, young arms like Culpepper, Andrew Morris, Kendry Rojas and John Klein should give Twins fans hope that the team will have a solid, if not great group of relievers within the next couple of years.
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