MN Twins Cut Two 1st Round Prospects from Big League Camp

By    |  
Updated:
Follow Us
Kaelen Culpepper, Minnesota Twins
Credit: William Parmeter

We are just over two weeks until Opening Day for the Minnesota Twins. Their first series of 2026 begins on March 26 in Baltimore, against the Orioles. Until then, they’ll continue to go through the motions down in Fort Myers.

Earlier this week, the Twins made some roster moves that dropped the total of players in camp to 49. With minor league games kicking off on the back fields, those teams need bodies too, and Minnesota’s top prospects need more live reps.

Star prospect reassigned to Minnesota Twins minor league camp

Thus, after Wednesday’s 2-1 Grapefruit League win over the Detroit Tigers, Minnesota announced another pair of moves, cutting both Kaelen Culpepper and Aaron Sabato from big league camp, bringing the Twins’ camp roster number to 47.

Kaelen Culpepper went 2-for-2 on Wednesday, before he was sent down. The MN Twins incredibly talented young shortstop and top prospect finished his spring batting .316 with a .749 OPS, striking out five times and walking once.

Culpepper is primed to push for a role in the big leagues as early as this summer. He slashed .289/.375/.469 (.844 OPS) in 113 games between High-A and Double-A last season, and will start his 2026 campaign at Triple-A St. Paul.

Aaron Sabato was the 27th overall pick during the 2020 MLB Draft, and the Twins were banking on his bat. He reached Triple-A last season and finished on a hot stretch, but ultimately batted just .245 with a .741 OPS.

Despite the sizable investment, he has yet to look like a big leaguer. In 12 spring games, Sabato hit .231 with a .718 OPS.

No surprise cuts yet for MN Twins

With just over two weeks until the Minnesota Twins must solidify their 26-man roster, we haven’t seen anything surprising yet. The position battles continue to rage on, and guys without options are jockeying for spots. The back of the bullpen is up in the air, and the starting rotation could have more than one opening.

It’s been really hard to overlook how good Mick Abel has been this spring (10.0 IP 5 H 0 R 0 BB 13 K) and he could certainly leapfrog Zebby Matthews for a ration spot. Taj Bradley opted out of the World Baseball Classic and turned in a good showing Wednesday (5.0 IP 3 H 1 R 1 ER 2 BB 7 K) to further solidify his spot.

Bailey Ober remains a question, and his body hasn’t worked to expectations for some time. If he’s unable to go it throws an additional wrench in the team’s plans.

By removing more players expected to start the season on the farm, Shelton can focus on the tight competitions in which he needs to make fringe roster decisions around. The final 21 cuts will probably have much more weight.

Mentioned in this article:

More About:

0What do you think?Post a comment.

Add MinnesotaSportsFan as a preferred source on Google.Add MinnesotaSportsFan as a preferred source on Google.