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Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.
Twins in “uncharted territory” with Connor Prielipp
- Story byPioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.
- Twins in “uncharted territory” with Connor Prielipp
CHICAGO — The Twins had not yet announced a starter for Monday's game on Sunday afternoon, but manager Derek Shelton said there was a "strong chance," Joe Ryan would come off the injured list to make his first major league start in more than a month.
That begs the question: What will the Twins do with Connor Prielipp, who would have been lined up to pitch in that game? Prielipp is not listed as a scheduled starter during the upcoming series in Detroit and Shelton said they were "working through … where he'll be."
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The Twins have had to closely monitor Prielipp's workload because of his extensive injury history —which includes multiple elbow surgeries — giving him extra days in between starts and sometimes limiting the length of his starts as they try to find the best way to keep him healthy and productive.
"You're kind of in uncharted territory because I don't think anybody has a solution for it," Shelton said of the best way to handle Prielipp's workload.
In his last outing — five scoreless innings behind Andrew Morris, who threw the first inning of the game — Prielipp crossed the 100 major league innings threshold. He's now at 122 2/3 total innings, including his time at Triple-A this season.
Topping 100 innings, with his injury history, was "great," Prielipp said. He has consistently maintained that his body has felt good throughout the season, even as he continues to push past his career-high workload. He has been injury-free except for a blister issue that cropped up during the middle of the season.
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This year has been a big jump from the 82 2/3 innings he pitched in 2025, itself a big jump from the 23 1/3 innings he threw in 2024. Prielipp threw just 28 innings total in college, requiring Tommy John surgery before he was drafted. He had another elbow surgery in 2023.
"Connor's a different case than most because we're not talking about innings from '24, '25, '26," Shelton said. "We're talking all the way back to when this kid was in high school because he threw 28 innings in college, so he's a little bit different case. It's why we've tried to extend him out eight, nine days at times and now we're just going to have to monitor."
Culpepper impressing early on
Kaelen Culpepper was surprised when he saw his name near the top of the Twins' lineup on Saturday.
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He had primarily been hitting near the bottom of the lineup since being called up from Triple-A, and was expecting more of the same on Saturday. Instead, he got his first opportunity to hit second with a left-hander on the mound and made the most of it.
"Kaelen's had good at-bats," manager Derek Shelton said. "It's one of those things that if you continue to play well, you're going to get different opportunities. This seemed like the opportunity to be able to do that."
One of the Twins' top prospects, Culpepper — who was hitting eighth again on Sunday — has been excelling in his opportunity since he was promoted nearly a month ago. The shortstop hit a home run in his first career game and has continued to put together good at-bats since then.
On Saturday, he was in the middle of everything, singling and scoring in the fourth inning, reaching base and scoring an inning later, and doubling home a key insurance run late in the 6-4 win over the White Sox .
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"It always feels nice, especially when I'm doing my job. The coaches, they trust me to put me up early in the lineup," Culpepper said. "I got the job done whenever they called on me to do it."
Through his first 24 games, the 23-year-old is hitting .307 with a 131 OPS+ (100 is league average).
"He's a tough out and that's hard to do in today's game. It's really hard to get him out," catcher Ryan Jeffers said. "He puts together really good ABs nonstop for the whole game. Wherever he's at in the lineup, whether it's in the two-hole or down in the eight, wherever he's been, he's going to be a really tough out and that's annoying for pitchers."
Briefly
The Twins' series opener in Detroit is set for 2:10 p.m. The Twins will play three games there before an off day on Thursday and then returning home to host the Cleveland Guardians .
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