Twins draft college shortstops Kaelen Culpepper, Kyle DeBarge with first-round picks

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Like any team, the Minnesota Twins were happy to be picking No. 21 in the 2024 MLB Draft, rather than holding the No. 5 and No. 8 picks the previous two years, because it meant they were coming off a winning 2023 season.

But it did make for a less exciting first-round experience Sunday night.

Two years ago, having gone 73-89 the prior season, the Twins held the No. 8 pick and were thrilled to land Cal-Poly shortstop Brooks Lee, widely viewed as the top college hitter in the draft class. Lee was immediately regarded as a consensus top-100 prospect, quickly played himself into top-30 status and is now in the big leagues at 23 years old, looking like a future star.

Last year, the Twins got lucky in MLB’s inaugural draft lottery, moving up eight spots to No. 5 in a loaded class to land high school outfielder Walker Jenkins in what was a huge moment for the organization. Still just 19 years old, Jenkins is already the crown jewel of Twins’ strong farm system and a consensus top-10 prospect thought to have MVP-caliber upside.

This time around, the Twins did not lose or luck their way into the top 10, picking at their assigned No. 21 spot in the playoff-team section of the first round. But they still think they landed a potential impact player in Kansas State infielder Kaelen Culpepper, a right-handed hitter who started at third base as a freshman and sophomore before moving to shortstop this past season.

“Picking in the twenties, it’s a long wait and you’re not sure how your board is going to hold up,” scouting director Sean Johnson said. “Some years, you get completely wiped out. Some years, you have a few to choose from that you want to take at your pick. Kaelen was certainly a guy we were hopeful would make it to our pick range. And we’re glad to have him.”

At the plate, Culpepper is coming off back-to-back, nearly identical monster seasons, batting .328/.419/.574 this year and .325/.423/.576 last year, with a total of 21 homers and 26 steals in 101 combined games.

“I consider myself a five-tool player, but definitely speedy,” Culpepper said. “I want to be a guy who steals 30, 40, maybe even 50 bases.”

Culpepper controlled the strike zone well in college and drew praise for his quick hands and balanced, line-drive swing, but there were questions about his aggressive approach, especially versus off-speed pitches.

The Athletic ranked him as the class’ No. 30 player, with Keith Law writing: “Culpepper has one of the best swings in the class, and if he can just deploy it a little less often, he’s going to be a strong regular. When he’s swinging at strikes, he’s very quick and direct to the ball and gets good loft in his finish for at least extra-base power, hitting hard line drives to all fields.”

Culpepper was rated similarly according to ESPN (No. 28), MLB.com (No. 31) and Baseball America (No. 34), with most variance in opinion being about whether the 21-year-old will be able to stick at shortstop defensively, and about how much home run power he’s capable of developing at 6 feet 1 and 190 pounds.

“I played third base the first two years at Kansas State,” Culpepper said. “We had a really good shortstop when I came in. But after he got drafted last year, I was able to move right on in (to shortstop). I think I did a really good job at hanging at shortstop, but I’ve always been a shortstop. It feels natural to me. I could see myself there long term.”

Culpepper played for the U.S. collegiate national team, coached by Brooks Lee’s father and longtime Cal-Poly head coach, Larry Lee, who gave the Twins a ringing endorsement of the player and the person.

“We’ve really admired the way (Culpepper) plays the game, going back to last summer with the USA team,” Johnson said. “We think he can hit. We think he’s going to have power. He’s at least an average runner. He has at least an average arm. And we think he can defend, with a chance to stay at shortstop. So that was very appealing to us.”

Awarded a second first-round pick as compensation for losing Sonny Gray in free agency, the Twins used the No. 33 selection on another right-handed-hitting college infielder in Louisiana-Lafayette shortstop Kyle DeBarge.

DeBarge had a breakout junior season by adding significant power without sacrificing his strong contact skills, hitting .356/.418/.699 with 21 homers in 62 games after totaling 10 homers in his first two seasons. DeBarge is even smaller than Culppeper at 5 feet 9 and 175 pounds, but the 21-year-old slugged his way to Sun Belt Conference player of the year honors.

The Athletic ranked him No. 47 in the class, with Law writing: “DeBarge rarely misses fastball strikes, and hasn’t had any trouble when he’s faced good velocity. He’s got the hands for shortstop, but his arm is a little short for the left side of the infield and he probably profiles best at second base.”

Given the stylistic similarities between Culpepper and DeBarge, it would be tough not to conclude the Twins had a “type” they were targeting this year: smaller-framed, good-hitting college middle infielders with standout hand-eye coordination for whom there’s some industry wide disagreement about their future defensive home and long-term power potential.

They’re betting on the swings, not the size.

“That’s really the thing that drives our decisions, at least on night one,” Johnson said. “We want to take players that we believe can hit and play multiple positions. It really is in line with how (manager) Rocco (Baldelli) deploys his roster on a nightly basis. It’s nice to give him potential pieces that can play around the diamond.”

With their second-round pick, No. 60 overall, the Twins chose Tennessee slugger Billy Amick, who blasted 23 homers in 65 games for the College World Series winners after transferring from Clemson. He played third base this season, but profiles best at first base as a prototypical big-power, swing-and-miss right-handed bat.

The Athletic rated him No. 58, with Law writing: “Amick is a great second-round pick, because he has first-round upside with the bat but several areas for development once he’s in pro ball.”

“He was a good performer at Clemson,” Johnson said. “Then he was on this decorated Tennessee team that was full of really good hitters. You look at his underlying numbers beyond the stat sheet, and we just felt really good about his swing. We’re really glad he was still on the board at 60.”

With their fourth and final Day 1 pick, a competitive balance-round choice, the Twins took Texas high school pitcher Dasan Hill, a 6-foot-5 left-hander with plenty of room to put on weight and add velocity, at No. 69.

The Athletic had him ranked No. 40, with Law calling Hill “a projectable lefty who shows average velocity now but should easily get to the mid-90s in time, with feel to spin two different breaking balls. This is the classic high school projection archetype.”

“We saw Dasan Hill a lot,” Johnson said. “He made a nice jump from last summer to this spring. Our area scout, Trevor Brown, I think saw him pitch eight times this spring. We had a lot of looks. He was Trevor Brown’s bullet guy. We think that once we get him in our system, we can do a lot physically and developing his pitches. That pick was a nice way to end the day.”

(Photo of Kaelen Culpepper with commissioner Rob Manfred: Daniel Shirey / MLB Photos via Getty Images)

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