Twins Minor League Report (5/16): Kaelen Culpepper Collects First Multi-Homer Game

[Tom Froemming]

Image courtesy of Image courtesy of David Malamut

CURRENT W-L Records
Minnesota Twins: 25-20 (12 straight wins!!!)
St. Paul Saints: 21-19
Wichita Wind Surge: 20-17
Cedar Rapids Kernels: 22-14
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 17-20
FCL Twins: 5-4
DSL Twins: Season starts June 2.

TRANSACTIONS
The Twins selected the contract of Ryan Fitzgerald from the Saints. He made his major league debut on Friday night. He’s a 30-year-old utility man and former indy ball guy who has 378 career Triple-A games to his credit. Cody Christie did an excellent writeup on Fitzgerald earlier today, here’s the link.

LHP Jaylen Nowlin was promoted up from Wichita to St. Paul and Wichita activated OF Allen Cerda. IF Rayne Doncon started a rehab assignment with Fort Myers and RHP Christian Becerra started a rehab assignment with the FCL Twins.

SAINTS SENTINEL 
Iowa 12, St. Paul 7
Box Score
Tyler Beede made his first start for the Saints after coming out of the bullpen his previous four outings. It did not go well. The 31-year-old former big leaguer gave up four runs while recording five outs. Things didn’t get much better for the St. Paul pitching staff from there. Cubs prospect Matt Shaw led the way with a pair of homers, but the I-Cubs had five different players who recorded three hits tonight. Wow.

The Saints lineup was able to hang with Iowa through the early innings, as this game entered the fifth inning tied at 7-7. Edouard Julien led off the bottom of the first inning with a home run in what ended up being a four-run inning. Mickey Gasper also homered, his seventh in 15 games with the Saints. Emmanuel Rodriguez homered, as well, though he also struck out four times tonight. Carson McCusker was 1-for-5 and also struck out four times. He also committed his first error of the season.

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Arkansas 10, Wichita 4
Box Score
It wasn’t a great night for the Wind Surge, but the lineup accomplished an odd feat. All nine hitters collected exactly one hit. That’s not particularly noteworthy, I suppose, but it is strange to see. Unfortunately, the result was only four runs on a night their pitching staff struggled.

Kyler Fedko hit his sixth home run of the season, already giving him double the amount he hit last year. The 2021 12th-rounder also has a .403 on-base percentage so far this season. The other Wichita extra-base hits were doubles from Ricardo Olivar and Tanner Schobel.

KERNELS NUGGETS
Cedar Rapids 13, Peoria 2
Box Score
This Kernels lineup is popping off. They scored 13 runs tonight, their third double-digit output in their past four games. While they’re certainly peaking at the moment, this club has been impressive at the dish all year so far. Cedar Rapids leads the Midwest League in on-base percentage by 21 points and holds a 41-point lead in slugging percentage.

Kaelen Culpepper led off and led the way, going 4-for-5 with a pair of home runs, his first multi-homer game in pro ball. He surpassed the 100-plate appearance mark on the season tonight and is hitting .304/.398/.490 (.888 OPS) while providing strong defense at shortstop.

Brandon Winokur and Jaime Ferrer also homered for the Kernels tonight, and it was Ferrer’s first home run of the season. Danny De Andrade had a two-hit night and was hit by a pitch. Gabriel Gonzalez, who is typically an aggressive swinger, drew a pair of walks tonight. This was just his fourth time drawing multiple walks in 113 games since joining the Twins org.

Jeremy Lee and Kade Bragg combined to tag team this game on the mound. Lee gave up two runs, one earned, over the first five frames before Bragg delivered four shutout innings of relief while striking out six. 

MUSSEL MATTERS
Fort Myers 9, Jupiter 4
Box Score
The Mussels trailed 4-1 entering the sixth inning but scored eight unanswered runs to storm back and take the victory. This was the first game of Rayne Doncon’s rehab assignment. He played third base and went 1-for-3 with a walk and scored two runs.

Yasser Mercedes had a big game, hitting a home run and stealing his 15th base of the season. He’s yet to be thrown out attempting to steal this season. Maddux Houghton also homered and stole a base for Fort Myers.

Dylan Questad has taken great strides in his strike-throwing ability to this point, but he looked more like his 2024 self tonight. The former fifth-rounder had more walks than innings pitched last year, but entered tonight with a 3.4 BB/9 in 21 innings in 2025. He recorded eight outs and walked four batters, hitting another. Questad also had five strikeouts, for what it’s worth.

Zander Sechrist delivered 2 1/3 innings of shutout ball out of the Mussels bullpen. The 23-year-old undrafted free agent has a 1.98 ERA and 1.02 WHIP in 27 1/2 innings.

COMPLEX CHRONICLES
FCL Red Sox 5, FCL Twins 2
Box Score
The Twins fell behind 4-0 in the first four innings and couldn’t muster a comeback. On the mound, Matt Gabbert and Christian Becerra got some work in on their rehab assignments before St. Louis Park native Mitch Mueller finished things off. Gabbert got knocked around a bit (three runs on six hits over three innings), Becerra only surrendered an unearned run in his two frames and Mueller struck out three while yielding a run in his two innings.

At the plate, the only extra-base hits for the Twins came from Yandro Hernandez (a double) and Eduardo Beltre (a triple). Catcher Ricardo Pena had a single and a walk. He has a .667 on-base percentage through his first five games of the season.

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Pitcher of the Day: Jeremy Lee (Cedar Rapids): 5 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K
Hitter of the Day: Kaelen Culpepper (Cedar Rapids): 4-for-5, 2 HR (4), 3 R, 4 RBI

PROSPECT SUMMARY
Check out the Prospect Tracker for more. 

3. Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul): 1-for-5, HR (3), R, 2 RBI, 4 K
6. Kaelen Culpepper (Cedar Rapids): 4-for-5, 2 HR (4), 3 R, 4 RBI
9. Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids): 2-for-5, HR (3), R, 2 RBI, K
11. Kyle DeBarge (Cedar Rapids): 1-for-5, 3B, R, RBI, K
14. Gabriel Gonzalez (Cedar Rapids): 0-for-3, 2 BB, R
16. Eduardo Beltre (FCL): 1-for-3, 3B
17. Tanner Schobel (Wichita): 1-for-4, 2B, BB, R, K
18. Yasser Mercedes (Fort Myers): 2-for-5, HR (3), SB (15), 2 R, RBI
19. Carson McCusker (St. Paul): 1-for-5, 4 K
20. Ricardo Olivar (Wichita): 1-for-5, 2B, R, 2 RBI

TOMORROW’S PROBABLE STARTERS
St. Paul at Iowa, 6:08 pm CT: David Festa
Wichita vs. Arkansas, 4:05 pm CT: Darren Bowen
Cedar Rapids vs. Peoria, 6:35 pm CT: Ty Langenberg
Fort Myers at Jupiter, 3:00 pm CT: Eli Jones
FCL Twins at FCL Red Sox, 9:00 am CT: TBD

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[jmlease1]

Cedar Rapids has a really nice collection of hitting prospects right now. Great to see them getting it done and having guys position themselves for a promotion to AA. Looking forward to Amick getting healthy and rejoining the wrecking crew. Especially pleased to see Culpepper doing so well while playing a quality SS. He looks like he could stick there, which would be awesome if his bat keeps producing. Long way to go, but you can see why they took him in the first round.

[Jeff K]

i know this is fast, but Culpeper might be ready for AA.

[Tom Froemming]

1 hour ago, Jeff K said:

i know this is fast, but Culpeper might be ready for AA.

You might be onto something. It’s possible they put KC on the Keaschall track. He was promoted to Double-A on May 28 last year. 

[LambchoP]

Would be great if Culpeper can develop into our SS of the future, making his debut around the the time Correa has to move to third. Either way, nice to see him doing so well. Same with Gonzalez, he sure is having a bounce back year. Nice to know we might actually get something long term out of the Polanco trade after all :) I'm a bit concerned about E Rodriguez though, he seems to be overmatched at AAA this year. I wonder if they'd consider a trip to AA to get his confidence back and get his bat going?

[blairpaul715]

First time seeing Winokur play. He looks fantastic at 3rd base, very athletic 6'6 kid. If he can show he can hit for any average, he will fun to watch. Looks like he can play anywhere too!!

[Linus]

44 minutes ago, blairpaul715 said:

First time seeing Winokur play. He looks fantastic at 3rd base, very athletic 6'6 kid. If he can show he can hit for any average, he will fun to watch. Looks like he can play anywhere too!!

He’s got some swing and miss in his game but everything else is there. Speed, good hands and a rocket arm. I actually think he is the best SS prospect we have but the Twins obviously view Culpepper as the better SS. 

[Dman]

CR has a killer lineup. The Twins invested most of their top 10 picks in bats last years draft and most of them are performing well.  5 of the top 10 hitters for OPS in the Midwest league are from the Kernel's (Gonzales, Amick, DeBarge, Baez and Culpepper).  I don't think I have ever seen that level of dominance at any level before.  They all have their flaws as hitters so plenty to work on. 

As mentioned by @jmlease1I don't think they move anyone up until at least the end of May or early June and they often wait until the first half of the minor league season is over to make those moves.  There is no reason to rush anyone that I can see as they are all pretty young except for Baez.

Been watching Diaw pretty closely and on offense it seemed like he just really lacked power.  His K and Walk rates are good and his BA has been decent all year as well but the OPS lagged because he had no power.  I was going to write that about him earlier and of coarse now he has been hitting HR's and moved his OPS into the 800's.  If he can keep that going it looks like a strong plate approach and strong bat.  When I went to the Cedar Rapids game he didn't look that good behind the plate and the opposing team stole bases at a high clip and his throws to second were way off.  Maybe just a bad game as I know he has been better there recently.  Also lot's of passed balls in the game I watched.  Seems like there is work to be done there but he does look athletic behind the plate.  Still hoping he develops into a more viable catcher than the Twins have had in a while.

Baez has the typical power you like in a catcher and I think his defense is fairly good as well (except for caught stealing numbers which are horrible).  He has really brought his K rate down this year from like 30% to 11%.  It seems to have made a huge difference in his results at the plate.  I would like to see them move him soon since he is older for the level and with his improved approach and 900 OPS he has earned a move to AA IMO.

[bean5302]

When I go back and look at each plate appearance, something sticks out. MLB umpires are very, very good compared to MiLB umpires, LOL.

Anyway, as much as I've been impressed with Gonzalez this year, he had 3 meatballs which turned into ground out, ground into DP, ground out. Those walks featured several "strikes" which were called balls. Not his best effort, haha.

[Dman]

4 minutes ago, bean5302 said:

When I go back and look at each plate appearance, something sticks out. MLB umpires are very, very good compared to MiLB umpires, LOL.

Anyway, as much as I've been impressed with Gonzalez this year, he had 3 meatballs which turned into ground out, ground into DP, ground out. Those walks featured several "strikes" which were called balls. Not his best effort, haha.

Happy you pointed it out but Gonzalez seems like he has a double play magnet on his bat when he is up.  He should really focus on lifting the ball with bases loaded or even a man on first.  It does feel like he has been a bit lucky and I am still not 100% sold on his very aggressive approach, but hard to argue against a .900 OPS for a young 21 year old.

[tony&rodney]

1 hour ago, Linus said:

He’s got some swing and miss in his game but everything else is there. Speed, good hands and a rocket arm. I actually think he is the best SS prospect we have but the Twins obviously view Culpepper as the better SS. 

I agree with this. His first step is really quick. He also looks really good in CF.

[bean5302]

1 hour ago, Dman said:

Happy you pointed it out but Gonzalez seems like he has a double play magnet on his bat when he is up.  He should really focus on lifting the ball with bases loaded or even a man on first.  It does feel like he has been a bit lucky and I am still not 100% sold on his very aggressive approach, but hard to argue against a .900 OPS for a young 21 year old.

I think it's long past time Gonzalez was moved to AA. He really doesn't have anything left to prove in A+ ball, he's been a top prospect, and he's rule 5 eligible this December. I don't like the idea of adding a guy in A+ or with limited AA experience to the 40 man roster, and I don't like the idea of exposing him and losing him like Akil Baddoo, either.

[tony&rodney]

3 hours ago, bean5302 said:

I think it's long past time Gonzalez was moved to AA. He really doesn't have anything left to prove in A+ ball, he's been a top prospect, and he's rule 5 eligible this December. I don't like the idea of adding a guy in A+ or with limited AA experience to the 40 man roster, and I don't like the idea of exposing him and losing him like Akil Baddoo, either.

This is an interesting observation. Have you been watching the games? What did you see that brought you to this conclusion. Just interested in your thoughts if based on observations of the game action.

[Doctor Wu]

LHP Jaylen Nowlin was promoted up from Wichita to St. Paul 

Anyone else surprised by this promotion? I like Nowlin's potential, but he hasn't pitched that well in AA this season (ERA of 6.08). His strikeout numbers look good, but he's still walking a lot of batters too.