Kansas State shortstop Kaelen Culpepper has often found himself as one of the few Black players on his teams. His goal is to prove his worth and inspire others like him.
Culpepper, the No. 21 pick in Sunday’s MLB amateur draft, was caught off guard when his agent informed him that the Minnesota Twins were about to select him. Despite meeting with the Twins for an hour during the MLB draft combine in June, Culpepper had not heard much from the organization afterward.
“Some of that is probably us trying to lay low a little bit and not tip our hand,” said Twins scouting director Sean Johnson. “There is some gamesmanship to all this.”
The Twins had a first-round grade on Culpepper, a 6-foot shortstop, for over a year, especially after his standout 2023 season at Kansas State and his strong performance on USA Baseball’s National Collegiate Team.
Twins scouts filed around a dozen reports on Culpepper this spring as he hit .328 with 11 homers, 15 doubles, and 59 RBIs in 61 games. With a simple and direct swing, Culpepper impressed the Twins with his control of the strike zone, recording nearly as many walks (35) as strikeouts (41).
“We’ve really admired the way he plays the game, going back to last summer with the USA team,” Johnson said. “Lots of glowing reviews from that coaching staff — which includes Brooks Lee’s dad, who was the head coach of that club — that really vouched for his character and the way he went about his business.”
Despite being rated as the No. 34 player in the draft class by Baseball America, there are questions about whether Culpepper can stick at shortstop. The 21-year-old Memphis native spent his first two college years at third base.
“It’s a lot like Brooks Lee,” Johnson said. “We didn’t take Brooks Lee because we thought he was a shortstop. We thought he could hit and that’s really the thing that drives our decisions, at least on night one. We want to take players that we believe can hit and play multiple positions.”
Culpepper, who models his game after longtime White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson, was one of eight Black players drafted in the first round. Playing alongside his older brother, Tyler, on travel teams, Culpepper was typically one of the only Black kids on the team.
Lightly recruited out of high school, Culpepper’s father, Kenneth, noted that the costs of elite summer showcase tournaments led to Kaelen being overlooked before he starred at Kansas State.
“My goal is to inspire others who look just like me,” Culpepper said. “I think that’s what I’m doing, me and other guys. There aren’t really many of us anymore [in MLB]. The game is growing. It’s always continuing to grow, and I like that aspect about baseball.”
Culpepper realized his potential in baseball around his freshman year of high school. His dad pushed him harder in workouts, focusing on arm strength, fielding, and hitting off a tee more often.
“The more I gave him, the more he wanted,” Kenneth Culpepper said. “I spent a lot of baseball hours with my son. … As a result, it turned into this right here. He wanted more. He wanted to prove to people that ‘these guys are not better than me,’ you know what I mean?”
“That’s just what he did, and he will continue to do that as a Minnesota Twin.”
On draft night, Culpepper was emotional, reflecting on all the work he put in to become a first-round pick. He promised the Twins were going to “get a dog out of me.”
“They took a chance on me,” he said. “That’s all I needed was for one team to give me the opportunity.”
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