There's an Awful Lot Riding on the Shoulders of Kaelen Culpepper

[Nick Nelson]

Image courtesy of William Parmeter

There's a growing buzz throughout the Twins sphere that Kaelen Culpepper's arrival in the majors is imminent. A promotion would certainly be warranted — the 23-year-old has been on fire in Triple-A, slashing .391/.481/.696 here in June after posting a .947 OPS in May. He's homered five times in his past 14 games while showing improved plate discipline and playing shortstop almost everyday. 

It's fair to say he looks ready. But Culpepper's success in St. Paul is only one factor driving the sense of urgency to get him up to the big-league club.

The other side of it is that Minnesota's infield has been horrible, offensively and defensively. Most troubling: this state of affairs can primarily be tied back to a set of players who not long ago were in the same position as Culpepper: former high draft picks turned top prospects who were being counted on as key parts of the solution for the Twins infield. 

Brooks Lee's OPS has hovered around mediocrity, which is a relatively good outcome in light of his ugly underlying metrics. His fielding has graded out very poorly, albeit better at third than short, and as a result he's been a borderline replacement-level player. That still puts him ahead of Royce Lewis, who's checking in at a .554 OPS and negative-0.2 fWAR after returning from a brief banishment to the minors. Lee has also outperformed Luke Keaschall, who's been getting on base at a solid rate recently but is slugging .324. Not good enough for a bottom-tier defender at second base.

Twins fans are constantly being reminded that the path from top prospect to impact major-leaguer is non-linear if not a dead end. The two biggest talents in the Twins' system aside from Culpepper, Walker Jenkins and Emmanuel Rodriguez, are both injured (again), which only reinforces that sense of wariness. Nothing is promised. In fact, around here, it almost feels like what's promised is disappointment.

Still, hope springs eternal, and when you see a touted talent like Culpepper tearing it up at the closest level to the majors, you can't help but shake off past experiences and feel excited. He looks like a good one. The Twins need him to be, and fast.

 

It's not so much about salvaging this season, which feels like a moot point. It's more so about rejuvenating any sense of optimism and confidence within the fanbase. This year has already been a morale beatdown: modest winning stretches followed by deep funks, myriad injuries to the pitching staff, and — as mentioned — the so-called "post-hype prospects" meant to propel a turnaround have flopped almost without exception.

Fans need a beacon for a better future they can grasp onto. There's little on the current roster to provide it, and there's little else on the way in the near term. Fair or not, Culpepper carries a heavy weight. Here's hoping he's up to the task. 

History says he'll let us down. But history is only that.

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[mrtwinsfan]

Please explain ,  what r  they waiting on ,  ???????????

[h2oface]

Time is now. Time to see. Before he gets injured in AAA ball. 

[Cris E]

Was this supposed to be the other half of the "Send Down Luke" article?  Why are they split up? 

[DJL44]

This is a perfect, low-expectations time to break in a rookie. They have 3% odds to make the playoffs.

[Major League Ready]

I think it's coming soon.  I have watched about 1/2 of the Saints games.  Culpepper just keeps getting better.  He was chasing too many bad pitches not long ago.  My guess is they are just trying to refine the approach a little more before sending him to the show and he is looking pretty darn refined.  He is a really important piece.

[jaimedude]

Culpepepper would bring some speed,  range, decent arm and defense to middle of infield. To a lot of  Saints and Twins fans, he is ready to help the Twins. Not sure why Zoll and Shelton are reluctant to give him a chance. Too much losing with the guys in place, and the line-up not doing great anyhow. 

[Linus]

He is incredibly important to the Twins. If he isn’t the SS of the future we likely have a big problem. While I hope Houston is the long term solution there is a very real chance he hits like Kreidler in the show. If neither guy can make the Twins will be unloading valuable assets filling the void. 

[RpR]

AHHH -  Culpepper, the new Lewis.

Runs and fields like Willie Mays Hayes.

[DocBauer]

IMO, the most logical conclusion is just ramping him up both offensively and defensively to be the MOST READY he can be. And I'm OK with that.

Since Lewis was sent down, Lee was moved to 3B. That wasn't done as a temporary move. And since then, K-Pepper has been played exclusively at SS.

While there is at least some slight concern about chase rate, I'd say that's true for about 80-90% of all rookies.

Expecting him to be some sort of STUD offensively and defensively right out of the gate is a mistake.  And that's why I object somewhat to the headline. He just has to continue being his normal self. There really shouldn't be that much pressure on him. Just be better than who you are replacing, but don't even think about that.

Just be YOU.

Lee is where he should be. He's just better at 3B overall, with a lot of tools to be a good 3B, even without a cannon. And his offense has improved, he just needs to find better consistency. 

And I'm not going to derail this OP in regard to Keaschall at 2B or any mention of Lewis.

It's POSSIBLE that a year or so from now that Houston's bat is at least decent. And his glove is so amazing that he moves K-Pepper to a different spot.

Dreams and bird in a hand folks.

We have the absolute best SS prospect we've had in years sitting at AAA right now.

I've stated very clearly even before the season began that the Twins would have a SPLIT season. The first part was just being competent enough with the bullpen and a strong rotation to keep the team around .500 before we got to see the young arms, and the young OF, and K-Pepper settling SS

Alas, we've seen the young arms earlier than expected in some cases, and hopefully will see more. Injuries have set back almost the entire OF part of the "next wave". Luckily, we're still only approaching mid June, so there's still a real chance the build up for 2027 that I expected and hoped for will still take place. 

But K-Pepper is the ONE top prospect that has so far avoided "the curse", lol. I DON'T like pressure added to him. Again, all he has to do is be himself. The skills say he's a solid SS with the potential to be above average. That would be OUTSTANDING and help settle the left side of the INF.

Should he, or we, care that MAYBE in a year, or year and a half that there might be an even better defensive SS ready to take over? Well he shouldn't, because he's got all the talent in the world to be a STUD 2B or 3B and things change over time.

I really don't understand why he's not up yet considering the hot streak he's been on. But again, if they just think another week or two getting prepped makes sense, who am I to argue?

I think he potentially changes the defense AND the lineup.  I'm just not sure I agree with his shoulders bearing weight. I think it goes deeper than that.

Edited 44 minutes ago by DocBauer
Saved too soon

[Major League Ready]

3 hours ago, RpR said:

AHHH -  Culpepper, the new Lewis.

Runs and fields like Willie Mays Hayes.

Do you pay any attention at all to how other organizations outside the top 10 in revenue build a winning team?  For teams that can't buy a team, there is absolutely no way to construct a winning team without developing players like Culpepper.  You are yearning for max Kepler while demeaning players like Culpepper.  Try taking a look around the league.  The Rays, White Sox, and Mariners are in in first place.  How did they get there?  Man, you seem to work fulltime at ignoring reality.