Luke

Keaschall

Keaschall has made a rather seamless transition to the outfield recently and will receive his first opportunity to patrol center field with franchise cornerstone Byron Buxton on the injured list with a hip strain. The 23-year-old former top prospect has struggled to an underwhelming .255/.341/.347 triple-slash line with just four homers and 12 steals in 337 plate appearances over 86 games. The additional defensive versatility will go a long way to ensuring he has a permanent spot in the majors, but he’ll need to start making more consistent hard contact, which ironically was his calling card in the minors, before he’s an impactful fantasy contributor. He’s far too young for fantasy managers to completely give up on his long-term potential.

It’s Keaschall’s first start in the outfield as a major leaguer. He started 19 games, all of them in center, in the outfield in the minors. The Twins are tired of watching him struggle at second base, so this could be a full-time switch. The one problem there for the long haul is that the Twins have a terrific group of outfield prospects, led by Walker Jenkins, Emmanuel Rodriguez and Gabriel Gonzalez, on the way, which might eventually crowd Keaschall out.

With his bat on the rebound and Kaelen Culpepper injured in Triple-A, the pressure seems mostly off Keaschall at the moment. He’s hitting .286/.393/.389 in 39 games since the beginning of May. Defense at second base is the bigger issue at this point, but if he keeps hitting, he’ll have a home somewhere.

Keaschall has been quite disappointing in managing just one homer through 253 plate appearances, but his .324 OBP isn’t half bad. He still needs a real hot streak at some point in order to ensure that he’s up for good; as is, he’s definitely a candidate to be demoted if the Twins wants to try top prospect Kaelen Culpepper.

At some point, the Twins are going to have to give intriguing infield prospect Kaelen Culpepper, who is tearing the cover off the ball at Triple-A St. Paul recently, a look at the highest level. The obvious move would be to jettison Royce Lewis from third base, especially since he’s hitting .165 overall this season. However, it’s worth noting that Keaschall is hitting just .224/.306/.292 with one homer and 10 steals through 44 games. The 23-year-old former top prospect hit at every rung of the minor-league ladder and looked impressive during last year’s injury-shortened rookie campaign.

Keaschall is batting .313 with four doubles, six walks and three steals in his last 10 games. It’s been just enough to push his OPS up to .600 for the first time all season. The bat should continue to come around, which would make him pretty valuable if he keeps running; he’s 8-for-8 stealing bases so far.

Keashall smacked an RBI double in the fifth inning that increased the Twins’ advantage to 2-0. He then came around to score on a run-scoring double off the bat of Kody Clemens. He’s having a rough time overall at the dish this season, slashing an underwhelming .223/.280/.300 with one homer, 15 RBI and seven stolen bases in 143 plate appearances.

Keaschall knocked a base hit in the second inning and swiped second for his sixth steal of the season. He was later hit by a pitch in the ninth and came around to score the Twins’ only run of the game on a base hit. The 23-year-old second baseman is off to a slow start, hitting .206/.255/.265 with one homer, 12 runs scored, and 12 RBI, though a low .233 BABIP is the difference from the .340 mark he had over 207 plate appearances in 2025.

Keaschall was Johnny-on-the-spot here with a game-tying single in the seventh inning followed by a go-ahead poke in the ninth. That final blow was a true chopped that only scored a run because the Mets’ infield was in, but for a guy like Keaschall who’s trying to get off the schneid and still has a paltry .557 OPS, every little bit helps.

The nice game comes after the Twins dropped him from third to fifth in the lineup. He hasn’t shown much pop yet this season, but his bad speed is up from last year and it hasn’t led to any more strikeouts. He’s still probably going to spend most of the year batting in the top three for the Twins.