Twins Call Up Culpepper With 48 Games to Save Their Season

Minnesota is bringing up shortstop Kaelen Culpepper, the organization's No. 2 prospect, as the club tries to piece together a functional roster with 48 games left and a half-game separating them from the last wild card spot. The news item notes he was a 2024 first-round pick out of Kansas State who has made meaningful strides defensively this year.

The timing is worth noting. Ryan Kreidler has been the primary shortstop when healthy, but the Twins are 56-58, the rotation is in pieces — Joe Ryan on the IL, Pablo Lopez on the 60-day, multiple arms unavailable — and this is the kind of moment where you see what a prospect is actually made of. Minnesota isn't calling Culpepper up to develop him. They need bodies who can play.

The bigger picture here is still the pitching. Culpepper can help at short, but the Twins' path to October runs through Taj Bradley staying healthy and Bailey Ober holding his spot in the rotation. A shortstop prospect doesn't fix a staff that has been grinding through injury after injury since June. Still, you take the depth where you can get it, and with Buxton also on the IL, this roster needs every available piece.