Twins All-Star Week Notebook: MLB Draft, Zebby Promoted, Sano Dumped + More
Even with the Twins off for the week, there's plenty of news to cover
The Minnesota Twins selected Kaelen Culpepper with the 21st overall pick of the 2024 MLB Draft. Culpepper, who turns 22 in December, played three seasons at Kansas State, slashing .314/.402/.531 in 152 games while splitting time between third base and shortstop.
All 40 games Culpepper played in 2023 — when he slashed .325/.423/.576 — were at third base, where the video above shows he was far more than competent defensively.
Culpepper slid over to shortstop after Nick Goodwin was drafted by the Blue Jays in the seventh round in 2023, and acquitted himself fairly well.
With every player who plays short, Culppeper’s future at the position is cloudy. But again, that’s why teams load up on shortstops, catchers and center fielders in the draft — they can usually move down the defensive spectrum quite easily while still being their best selves offensively.
Here’s Culpepper catching up with the dudes known as Cespedes Family Barbecue — Jordan Shusterman and Jame Mintz — at the draft combined, where he gets to tell his story in a way most haven’t heard it before.
It seems as though the Twins have landed a special talent and human being:
The entire draft class went as follows:
—
Zebby Matthews was promoted to Triple-A over the week, and will look to continue his gaudy production after putting up incredible numbers between High-A Cedar Rapids and Double-A Wichita this season.
Cedar Rapids: 1.59 ERA in four starts (22.2 IP), 28-0 K/BB ratio (11.1 K/9) and 0.75 WHIP
Wichita: 1.95 ERA in 10 appearances (nine starts/55.1 IP), 63-6 K/BB ratio (10.2 K/9; 1.0 BB/9) and 0.76 WHIP
Few pitchers have ascended through the team’s system this quickly — Randy Dobnak comes to mind recently — but with his reasonably advanced age (he turned 24 in May), it’s not impossible to envision a scenario where he helps the big club before the end of the season.
But Triple-A will make for a good challenge for Matthews, where he’ll face even more batters older than him.
He’s allowed an incredible .164/.193/.171 line to batters older than him in 147 plate appearances this season, while younger batters have hit him at just a .208/.219/.326 rate in virtually as many (146) plate appearances.
Baseball America has Matthews as their No. 54 prospect overall, and the top pitching prospect in a Twins pipeline that also has David Festa, Marco Raya, Charlee Soto, C.J. Culpepper, Cory Lewis, Matt Canterino, Connor Prielipp and others.
Matthews is still listed as the team’s No. 19 prospect on MLB Pipeline, but any midseason update should move him up that list a fair amount based on how he’s pitched this season.
Like many Twins pitching prospects, Matthews’ velocity has spiked — he now reaches the 96-97 mph range with regularity and possesses impeccable command — which should/could make him an option later this season in the bullpen, even if the team doesn’t have a rotation spot for him down the stretch.
Would you like a chance to throw out a first pitch at a Twins game in August? Keepers Heart would love to give you that chance. Click the link here for details!
—
Reliever Zack Weiss was outrighted off the 40-man roster this week after completing a rehab assignment for a teres major strain that had sidelined him for the entire season.
It was the first outright for Weiss, who doesn’t have the requisite service time nor a previous outright which would have enabled him to declare free agency. So for now, he’ll bide his time at Triple-A St. Paul until a need arises or some other move occurs.
Weiss had a respectable 3.21 ERA in 14.0 innings with the Angels and Red Sox last season, but struggled with home runs (four allowed) as he has for much of his brief MLB career (eight in 27.1 IP).
The veteran righty was also a member of the organization briefly in 2019 after signing during the offseason. He was released on July 15, 2019 and did not resurface with another MLB organization until the next February with Cleveland.
Weiss threw 8.0 innings on his rehab between the FCL Twins, Fort Myers and St. Paul, allowing six earned runs (6.75 ERA) with eight strikeouts, three walks and a home run allowed.
—
Caleb Boushley (pronounced Boz-lee) was also outrighted earlier in the week to make room for Diego A. Castillo on the 40-man roster while the team was in Oakland and needing infielder depth.
Boushley passed through waivers unclaimed, and will remain in the organization after accepting the assignment. He was previously outrighted to Triple-A Nashville by the Brewers in late October last season, so he did have the right to refuse the assignment and seek work elsewhere.
Boushley made just one appearance with the Twins this season, going two innings while allowing a pair of earned runs on May 20 in a 12-3 loss against the Nationals in D.C.
He also made just a single appearance with the Brewers last season — his MLB debut on Sept. 29 against the Cubs.
—
The Twins also acquired third baseman Rylan Bannon from the Mets for cash. Bannon, who turned 28 in April, has 20 games of big-league experience — most recently, two with the Astros last season — and is just 2-for-20 in his seven MLB games overall.
Bannon will be on the roster at Triple-A St. Paul, and is coming over from Triple-A Syracuse in the Mets system, where he hit a stellar .254/.392/.472 with 60 walks and just 79 strikeouts in 79 games.
Bannon has played at least 90.0 innings each at second and third base as well as shortstop, and even has a little experience in the corner outfield spots (just over 80.0 innings combined) as well.
After the team dipped into the minors for infield depth with Castillo, it’s not impossible to envision a scenario where Bannon could join the MLB team in a pinch.
—
The Twins signed right-handed pitcher Hunter Hoopes to a minor-league deal over the last week. Hoopes, who played at UNC Asheville and Alabama collegiately, last pitched with Schaumburg of the Frontier League last season.
Based on his Twitter account, it appears as though he can really bring the heat. You’ll have to click the link here since Twtter and Substack don’t seem to want to play nice.
—
The Royals traded for Hunter Harvey, which doesn’t affect the Twins directly but does in a roundabout way when considering what the trade market may look like over the next two weeks.
For Harvey, the Royals traded infielder Cayden Wallace and the rights to pick 39 in this week’s MLB Draft (used to select Caleb Lomavita, a college catcher from Cal).
Wallace was the No. 2 prospect in Kansas City’s admittedly weak system via MLB Pipeline — he’s sixth with the Nationals, by comparison — but to get a solid prospect and a draft pick for a reliever who has been good, but not great, feels like quite an overpay.
In short, it looks like it’s going to be a ripe market for teams selling relief pitching, which might make acquiring teams think twice about looking outside for that help.
—
Miguel Sano was DFA’d by the Angels and subsequently released this week after hitting a meager .205/.295/.313 in 28 games (95 plate appearances). This could be the end of the line for Sano, who’ll now look for work on a minor-league deal after 29 teams passed on claiming him and a prorated total of what remains on his $875,000 deal for this season.
In short, if someone wanted to give him an MLB shot, they could have easily claimed him and absorbed the roughly $400,000 left on his deal. Instead, he’ll look to sign a minor-league contract and work his way back to the major leagues.
It will be an uphill battle.
—
The corresponding move for the Royals acquiring Harvey was DFA’ing Minnesota native and former Twins minor leaguer Nick Anderson. Anderson had pitched in 37 games for Kansas City this season, posting a 4.04 ERA with a 5.07 FIP as some of his secondary numbers were troubling (7.3 K/9, 1.4 HR/9, 1.40 WHIP).
Anderson has put together a nice career for himself after the Twins unceremoniously traded him to the Marlins for infielder Brian Schales — who never reached the bigs — but he’s battled health issues along the way and is now 34.
He’s on release waivers, per Anne Rogers of MLB.com, so once he clears he’ll be free to sign elsewhere.
—
Another former Twin was DFA’d over the week — left-handed starter Dallas Keuchel. Keuchel had made just four starts with the Brewers before he was ousted, facing 79 batters with an 11-8 K/BB ratio, three home runs allowed and an unsightly 5.40 ERA (5.62 FIP).
Keuchel made 10 appearances for the Twins in 2023 (six starts), posting a 5.97 ERA with a 1.67 WHIP and 25-18 K/BB ratio in 37.2 innings.
This could also be the end of the line.
—
Former Twin Danny Coulombe was shifted to the 60-day IL for the Orioles this week. The southpaw has been sidelined with bone chips in his left elbow since mid-June — he had them removed surgically — but the roster move is just procedural to open up a spot on the 40-man roster.
Barring any further setbacks, Coulombe should be a bullpen option for the Orioles on their chase for the division title in September.
The corresponding move(s) for the Orioles were to purchase the contract of Vinny Nittoli (a St. Paul Saints legend from before they were a Twins affiliate) and to option former Twins pitching prospect Cade Povich to Triple-A Norfolk.
—
Noah Syndergaard has not pitched professionally this season, but Jon Heyman tweeted that the expectation is the big righty will loose some weight and revamp his approach with the idea of a 2025 comeback in his sights.
This isn’t necessarily Twins-related, but it feels like the kind of pitcher the team would take a shot on this winter in hopes of revitalizing his career.