It's Time for the Twins to Send Luke Keaschall Back to Triple-A St. Paul

[Sam Caulder]

Image courtesy of © Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images

 

Luke Keaschall was one of the Twins' most exciting players entering the 2026 season. After a mini-breakout during his rookie campaign a year ago, it looked like Minnesota had found its long-term answer at second base. Keaschall hit .302 with an .827 OPS last year, showed elite bat-to-ball skills, and looked capable of becoming a fixture near the top of the lineup for years to come.

While he certainly still could be, that success has not carried over into this season. Entering Wednesday night's game, Keaschall is hitting just .247 with a .638 OPS. That's a significant drop-off from what he did a year ago, and it's becoming increasingly difficult to chalk it up to nothing more than a slow start.

What's especially disappointing is that it looked like he was beginning to turn the corner in May. After struggling through the early portion of the season, Keaschall hit .291 during the month, with seven extra-base hits and three stolen bases. The quality of his at-bats appeared to improve, the results were finally starting to follow, and it seemed like his rough April was simply a temporary bump in the road. Instead, June has brought him right back to where he started. So far this month, Keaschall is hitting just .250 with a .595 OPS. The underlying data doesn’t offer any reassurance, either.

His expected batting average sits at just .228, which is notably lower than his already uninspiring .247 mark. Often, struggling hitters can point to bad luck as a reason for optimism. That's not the case here.

Additionally, his quality of contact has been absolutely abysmal. His SLGCON, or slugging percentage on contact, sits at just .372. Not only is that comfortably the lowest mark among Twins hitters with at least 100 plate appearances, but it's roughly 180 points below league average. When Keaschall makes contact, there just isn't much damage being done. The rest of the batted-ball profile tells a similar story.

His average exit velocity, his barrel and hard-hit rates all sit near the bottom of the league. That's not the profile of someone who is getting unlucky; that's the profile of someone who is consistently getting outmatched.

Even the area of his game that has traditionally been his biggest strength has taken a step backward. Keaschall's bat-to-ball data remains solid overall, but it isn't as strong as it was during his rookie season. He's making less quality contact while chasing and striking out more. That's a difficult combination to overcome.

All of it has contributed to him finding himself near the bottom of the Twins' lineup more frequently in recent weeks. Could this simply be a sophomore slump? Sure, young players struggle all the time. The league adjusts. Pitchers find weaknesses, and development isn't always a straight line. But we're also more than two-and-a-half months into the season at this point. This is no longer a small sample size, and right now, Keaschall is not helping the Twins at the plate.

As someone who was extremely optimistic about Keaschall entering the season, I take no pleasure in saying this, but it's time for the Twins to option him to Triple-A. If he were providing strong defense at second base, perhaps the offensive struggles would be easier to stomach. But that hasn't been the case. Keaschall has been a negative on both sides of the ball, which makes it increasingly difficult to justify keeping him in the lineup every day while the team tries to keep itself afloat in the playoff picture.

It's not as if the Twins have shown any hesitation when it comes to optioning players; they've already done it this season with Royce Lewis and Matt Wallner. If the organization believes a player will benefit from a reset, they have shown a willingness to make that move regardless of the player's pedigree.

Additionally, I don't think it's a coincidence that the Twins have been giving Lewis opportunities at second base. Part of that undoubtedly relates to Brooks Lee's transition to third base (Lewis’s primary position) and the organization's desire to create defensive flexibility. But if Keaschall were truly succeeding, he wouldn't be losing starts to a hitter carrying a .162 batting average. That tells you something.

So who would take Keaschall’s spot if the Twins decide to send him down? Well, there may be an intriguing replacement already waiting. This would be a great opportunity to see where Kaelen Culpepper is at. Promoting Culpepper would require a 40-man roster move, so it wouldn't be a completely simple decision. Somebody would need to come off the roster. Still, there are plenty of reasons why the move makes sense.

Culpepper can play second base, shortstop, and third base. He would immediately give Derek Shelton additional flexibility throughout the infield, and defensively, he's been better than Keaschall this season.

More importantly, it would allow the Twins to accomplish two goals at the same time. Culpepper would get a chance to experience major-league pitching and begin his transition to the next level. Meanwhile, Keaschall could head to Triple-A, take a step back, work through his struggles in a lower-pressure environment, and rebuild some confidence. That sounds like a win-win scenario.

Would optioning Keaschall be popular among fans? Probably not. Nobody likes seeing a young player with this much talent get sent down. But these situations happen all the time. Development is very rarely linear, and sometimes the best thing for a player's long-term future is a temporary step backward. Right now, there isn't a strong argument for keeping Keaschall in the majors when he's struggling offensively, struggling defensively, and still has minor-league options available.

Let him get a reset, let him rebuild his confidence, and then let him come back a better player.

 

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[Cris E]

Agree.

Also, since when is sending down a second year player hitting poorly some sort of desperate scheme just crazy enough to work?  It happens all the time, more often than not to be honest. Most guys don't show up in the majors and start hitting and then retire at 37 without some setbacks and resets.  This is perfectly normal, or was before the internet allowed us to get too comfortable with our roster moves and career shapes and depth charts.  He's not playing well, they have a young SS to evaluate, Lewis is ready to step in and try some 2B, maybe Luke can be the next Martin and head out to left field.

[DJL44]

I am not convinced “Resets at AAA” are useful. AAA is homerrific right now, more likely to encourage bad habits than to correct flaws.

[mrtwinsfan]

A.A.A.  IS FULL OF HAS BEENS and Dreamers And any individual  help with a Team like the Twins  will more than not do much good  if we had a decent squad with a chance of maybe even winning 75+ games  then i might agree, but these guys need to play alot and play together ,  get rid of  players like Bell- Kreidler- Gray - Arcia  none of them should be taking playing time from the younger guys , Saints have several other guys we would like to see up here , go with the Youth ,  !!!!!!  they need to Learn up here !!!!

[h2oface]

It is a shame when the Twins have a rare exciting immediate half year breakout, that they seem to fade so fast. 

[jaimedude]

10 minutes ago, mrtwinsfan said:

A.A.A.  IS FULL OF HAS BEENS and Dreamers And any individual  help with a Team like the Twins  will more than not do much good  if we had a decent squad with a chance of maybe even winning 75+ games  then i might agree, but these guys need to play alot and play together ,  get rid of  players like Bell- Kreidler- Gray - Arcia  none of them should be taking playing time from the younger guys , Saints have several other guys we would like to see up here , go with the Youth ,  !!!!!!  they need to Learn up here !!!!

The current Twins roster is full of players you describe above, has been's and never were's. Instead of dumping these type of players, the Twins roster features them playing SS, outfield, catcher and really most of the body of the bullpen. The kicker is they, FO and ownership seem content with losing with all these older long in the tooth guys. Why not give some of the younger AAA players a shot instead of claiming rejects and they do not help the team anyways. Since the injury run the Twins have lost quite a few baseball games. Fools gold to not develop younger better talent and keep losing. I would not send Keaschall down, but I would cut half the crappy lousy bullpen. I agree it is time to move on from Kriedler, Bell and half the bullpen arms. Bullpen is a sham. 

[Hunter4848]

It seems the Twins have a extreme development problem, this has been a reoccurring theme under the Falvey regime. 

[Vanimal46]

Bizarre timing to release both your video and article about this topic today. He’s been heating up for the last month+ at the plate. I really don’t understand your logic here. The Twins are going no where. He’s one of very few young players getting reps. That’s what rebuilding teams do? 

[Vanimal46]

Unless they’re calling up Culpepper in his place I would hate this idea. 

[karcherd]

12 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

Unless they’re calling up Culpepper in his place I would hate this idea. 

There are plenty of better options for Culpepper to replace.

[karcherd]

This feels more like an article about a player you don't think should be part of the team.  You try to downplay his improvement in May by saying he is regressing in June.  This month he has started 7 games and gotten hits in 4 of them, doesn't seem like much regression.

As others have noted Keaschall is who should be getting AB's, not the likes of Gray, Arcia, Kreidler, even Bell or Clemens should not get AB's over Keaschall.  If our big league staff can't get him back on track then maybe they aren't the ones for the job.

[Vanimal46]

2 minutes ago, karcherd said:

There are plenty of better options for Culpepper to replace.

For sure. That’s the only transaction I’d look at and say alright. If we’re calling up some random 28+ year old for Keaschall I will hate it. 

[Vanimal46]

Re-posting from another thread…

Slash line last 30 games: 

.280/.382/.333 it would be cool if he found more power… but he’s doing just fine making contact. Was 2/2 last night? Bizarre timing. 

[karcherd]

8 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

Re-posting from another thread…

Slash line last 30 games: 

.280/.382/.333 it would be cool if he found more power… but he’s doing just fine making contact. Was 2/2 last night? Bizarre timing. 

Don't let facts get in the way of a good narrative.

[Vanimal46]

Wrong thread. Whoops 

[Chembry]

34 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

Re-posting from another thread…

Slash line last 30 games: 

.280/.382/.333 it would be cool if he found more power… but he’s doing just fine making contact. Was 2/2 last night? Bizarre timing. 

I posted a similar stat line (since the beginning of May) in the video post.  Keaschall quietly had a good month of May.

[FlyingFinn]

Defensively he sure needs to go work on it in AAA (see two errors which allows two Tigers to score already tonight). I'm just not sure he gets better in that area though. As others have said, his bat has been good lately.

[LyleCole]

I agree with the idea that the only way I send Luke to AAA is if they bring up Culpepper, but I would also add Kyle Fedko to the list, or maybe Ben Ross.   If they are sending him down so they can squeeze another "designated for assignment" 31 year old cash deal replacement players then no.   Have him work out his problems at the major league level.