Credit: William Parmeter
We are now just over two weeks until Opening Day for the Minnesota Twins. The play their first game of 2026 on March 26 in Baltimore against the Orioles. Until then, they’ll continue to go through the motions in Fort Myers for Grapefruit League action.
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 and will provide prospects more opportunity to get ready for the year.
After Wednesday’s 2-1 win against the Detroit Tigers, the team announced another pair of moves.
Star prospect reassigned to Minnesota Twins minor league camp
Facing the Detroit Tigers on Wednesday, Minnesota Twins manager Derek Shelton subbed Kaelen Culpepper in for Ryan Kreidler mid game. He wound up hitting a walk-off single to win the game, but that will serve as just a punctuation of his promise for Fort Myers.
We have made the following roster moves: pic.twitter.com/3zyrynPvLo
— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) March 11, 2026
Postgame Culpepper, and fellow former first round pick Aaron Sabato, were reassigned to minor league camp. The moves decrease the camp bodies to 47.
Culpepper went 2-for-2 on Wednesday and finished his spring batting .316/.381/.368 with a double. He carried a 5/1 K/BB while stealing a base.
Nothing to show for but Kaelen Culpepper smoked ball 107.1 MPH on the only pitch he will see today. pic.twitter.com/2D5qTId97w
— Running From The OPS (@OPS_BASEBALL) March 10, 2026
One of the Twins top prospects, Culpepper is set to push for a role in the big leagues this year. He batted .289/.375/.469 in 113 games between High-A and Double-A last season. He’ll start 2026 at Triple-A and could wind up being the best shortstop to play for the MN Twins this season.
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 hot a hot stretch, but finished batting .245/.288/.453 with an 83/15 K/BB in 65 games. Despite the sizable investment, he has yet to look like a big leaguer. In 12 spring games he batted .231/.333/.385.
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.
Mick Abel’s 6Ks in 3 innings. pic.twitter.com/vHMQIajRgP
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) March 1, 2026
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: Aaron Sabato Kaelen Culpepper
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