Back in the playoff race, the Minnesota Twins called up Kaelen Culpepper, their No. 2 prospect, in hopes he will provide increased offense at shortstop.
He made his major league debut on Friday against the Milwaukee Brewers, playing short and batting seventh in the lineup.
Culpepper, 23, appeared in 74 games at Triple-A St. Paul and batted .271 with 14 home runs, 46 RBIs and 17 stolen bases. He compiled 39 walks, 64 strikeouts and an .845 OPS.
In 116 games heading into Friday's action, Twins shortstops
combined for 11 home runs, 67 RBIs, 21 walks and 91 strikeouts while batting .235 with a .652 OPS.
Culpepper's defense also saved runs for the Saints.
"He's taken it really seriously and worked very hard at it," Twins assistant GM Alex Hassan said, per The Athletic. "He's got a lot of physical tools to do it, and especially his arm is incredible. There's a lot of good attributes on defense. It's getting as many reps as possible and learning as many situations as possible."
Culpepper was selected by the Twins in the first round of the 2024 MLB Draft out of Kansas State.
He is baseball's No. 29 prospect, according to MLB Pipeline.
The Twins (57-59) were eight games under .500 and seven games behind in the American League Central on June 13 and have slowly worked themselves back into postseason contention.
They enter the series in Milwaukee tied with the Cleveland Guardians in the Central -- three games behind the Chicago White Sox and a half-game out of the final AL wild-card spot.
--Field Level Media
