Kaelen Culpepper Heads To Injured List With Return Possible

[Steve Drumwright]

Whether or not he returns this season, the Minnesota Twins know they have something good in Kaelen Culpepper.

The rookie shortstop was placed on the 10-day injured list Wednesday by the Twins due to a strained left hamstring. Fellow rookie shortstop Ben Ross was called up from Triple-A St. Paul.

Culpepper left Tuesday's 8-1 loss to the New York Yankees in the sixth inning after trying to beat out a double-play grounder and feeling something in his left hamstring. Twins Daily's No. 3 prospect was slashing .275/.333/.404 with three homers and 11 RBIs in his first 31 games. Manager Derek Shelton said the Twins would like to have Culpepper back for the final two games of the regular season, but also know the rookie's season could be over.

Ross came up when rosters expanded Sept. 1 (he was to be Rule 5-eligible this offseason anyways). He only played in three games, going 0-for-4. Ross was slashing .273/.379/.500 with 20 homers and 71 RBIs in the minors this season.

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[DocBauer]

Bad news for K-Pepper. But at least it's not serious. And he's already flashed enough ability to know he's for real.

We also have a pretty good idea what Kreidler is capable of. Time.to let Ross play a bunch and see if you actually have something in him. He's younger than Kreidler and has some actual upside. They also both play just about every position on the field, though Kreidler might be a better glove. But it should be Ross Time over the next couple of weeks as much as possible, IMO.

[Eris]

At this point Culpepper with 42 days of service time (Aug 7 to September 16) and 120 plate appearances would retain his rookie eligibility for next year. IL time is excluded. Is this correct?  Is there any value for the Twins or Culpepper to retain his rookie status for next season. 

[lecroy24fan]

12 hours ago, Eris said:

At this point Culpepper with 42 days of service time (Aug 7 to September 16) and 120 plate appearances would retain his rookie eligibility for next year. IL time is excluded. Is this correct?  Is there any value for the Twins or Culpepper to retain his rookie status for next season. 

IL time does count towards service time.

[Whammy]

Rookie eligibility isn't tied to service time. It's tied to days on the active roster and time on the IL doesn't count towards that. 

[lecroy24fan]

7 hours ago, Whammy said:

Rookie eligibility isn't tied to service time. It's tied to days on the active roster and time on the IL doesn't count towards that. 

That got changed at some point as it always used to count towards it.

[Bodie]

It would be nice to have an ACTUAL prospect (so, NOT Wallner or our recent traumatic experiment at 2B that was so bad I can't/won't recall his lazy SEC arse's name!) roll into Minneapolis and able to be evaluated for a month or two.

 

I know it's a lot to ask, but can we SOMEHOW get the new Camaro home, and let us pop the hood to see if its a puny 6 under the hood or a tuned V8 before slamming it into the garage and dinging it all to heck?!?!

[sampleSizeOfOne]

Return Possible is the weirdest injury i have heard of to land a player on the IL.

We shall have to keep our eye on Culpepper...

Oh, wait... Strained left hamstring.

Nevermind.

[h2oface]

Bummer. Another injury just running to first base. I guess youth doesn’t stop the cursed self injury. 

[Fatbat]

On 9/19/2026 at 9:31 PM, h2oface said:

Bummer. Another injury just running to first base. I guess youth doesn’t stop the cursed self injury. 

Seems like a lot of athletes that life massive weights for strength but lose flexibility and agility. Hopefully they keep KC on the shelf and get a good look at Ross.

[wesnewy]

it's such a long season and he already flashed what he can do with a pretty decent sample. I'd say let him rest up and get ready for a breakout next year

[Whammy]

4 hours ago, wesnewy said:

it's such a long season and he already flashed what he can do with a pretty decent sample. I'd say let him rest up and get ready for a breakout next year

Yes... that makes sense. But I also LOVE the idea of a lineup on Sunday that has these guys in it

Keaschall
Culpepper
Jenkins
Rodriguez
Lee
and heck... even Roden 

Throw in Jeffers for his potential goodbye game and Bell/Clemens to celebrate their productive years.

That's a great "final day of the season" lineup

Keaschall (RF)
Jenkins (CF)
Jeffers (C)
Clemens (2B)
Bell (1B)
Rodriguez (LF)
Lee (3B)
Culpepper (SS)
Roden (DH)