Saints Top 100 Prospects Shine in 4-2 Opening Night Victory
IL St. Paul Saints

Saints Top 100 Prospects Shine in 4-2 Opening Night Victory

Published on March 27, 2026 under International League (IL)
St. Paul Saints News Release


INDIANAPOLIS, IN - The Indianapolis Indians have the top prospect in baseball on their roster in Konnor Griffin. The St. Paul Saints, however, have four Top 100 prospects (Walker Jenkins, Kaelen Culpepper, Emmanuel Rodriguez, and Connor Prielipp) and they proved four is greater than one on Friday night at Victory Field. Prielipp looked sharp after a small hiccup in the first, Culpepper shined in his Triple-A debut and the Saints took the first game of the season 4-2 over the Indians.

It didn't take long for the Saints to get on the board as their deep lineup put up three in the first inning. With one out, the Saints loaded the bases on a Gabby Gonzalez hit by pitch, a single from Culpepper, and an Emmanuel Rodriguez walk. Alan Roden knocked home two with a single to center making it 2-0 Saints. With two outs Eric Wagaman looped an RBI single into right-center putting the Saints up 3-0.

Prielipp struggled with his command in the first as two walks came back to bite him. Griffin drew a leadoff free pass. With one out Jhostynxon Garcia walked. Endy Rodriguez cut the Saints lead to 3-1 with a line drive single to center.

From there it was all Prielipp. He retired the final 11 men he faced going 4.0 innings allowing one run on one hit while walking two and punching out five. He threw 61 pitches, 36 for strikes while getting his fastball up to 97 mph and averaging 95.4 mph on the heater. He got a 38% whiff rate on 21 swings.

Two Top 100 Saints prospects combined to score a run in the fifth. With one out Jenkins singled off the chest of first baseman Rafael Flores Jr. He took second on a groundout and scored on a single to right by Culpepper pushing the Saints lead to 4-1. Culpepper finished his Triple-A debut 3-4 with an RBI and a run scored.

The Saints bullpen was tremendous over the final five innings. Raul Brito did the heavy lifting extending the streak of consecutive hitters retired to 14 with a perfect fifth.

The lone blemish came in the sixth. Griffin collected his first Triple-A hit when he led off the inning for the Indians with a single to left. On a hit-and-run, Tyler Callihan singled to left-center sending Griffin to third. With one out Endy Rodriguez hit a weak grounder through the left side to knock in Griffin and shrink the Saints lead to 4-2. Brito went 2.2 innings allowing one run on three hits while walking one and striking out four.

The final three pitchers: Grant Hartwig, Dan Altavilla, and Matt Bowman retired the final eight batters of the game on four strikeouts with Bowman picking up the save. Saints pitchers struck out 13 on the night.

The same two teams meet in game two of a three-game series at Victory Field on Saturday evening at 3:05 p.m. (CT). The Saints send RHP Zebby Matthews (NR) to the mound against Indians LHP Nick Dombkowski (NR). The game can be heard on KFAN Plus, 96.7 FM.

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International League Stories from March 27, 2026


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