St. Paul shortstop Kaelen Culpepper earns second straight Futures Game nod

Kaelen Culpepper earned his second straight Futures Game nod on July 1, and he will be the Twins’ lone representative when the showcase is played Sunday, July 12, at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.

The St. Paul shortstop’s repeat selection is more than a prospect honor. It places him on a 50-player roster that includes 38 players from MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 Prospects and nine from the top 10, a reminder that this event is built around the best young talent in the game. Culpepper is ranked by MLB Pipeline as Minnesota’s No. 2 prospect and the No. 35 prospect in baseball, and he is listed as a 23-year-old right-handed hitter and thrower who stands 5-foot-10 and weighs 185 pounds.

The Twins drafted Culpepper 21st overall in 2024 out of Kansas State University, and his climb since then has been fast enough to matter. MLB’s prospect profile pointed to a first full pro season that reached Double-A and ended with a 20-20 campaign, the kind of production that changes a player from a name on a list into a real timetable piece. That combination of power and speed, paired with a shortstop profile the Twins already view as one of the better ones in the system, is what has pushed him into the conversation as a legitimate near-MLB option.

The Futures Game invitation also gives Minnesota a clean read on where he sits in the pipeline. Culpepper was selected for the 2025 game as well, so this is back-to-back recognition rather than a one-off spike. That matters because the All-Star break showcase is usually where the sport’s most advanced minor leaguers separate themselves from the broad prospect field, and Culpepper’s place on it suggests his first step to the big leagues is no longer about upside alone. It is about timing, polish and whether his Triple-A run in St. Paul keeps matching the tools that got him here.