MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Memphian Kaelen Culpepper saw his dream come to fruition on Sunday night in front of his friends and family when the Minnesota Twins selected the shortstop at No. 21 overall in the MLB Draft.
"A jolt of emotions ran through my body," Culpepper told media after getting drafted. "I didn't know what to do it was just all excitement, joy, tears, it was all real. I came a long way my, journey just to get here and looking back on it, it's amazing."
The St. Benedict at Auburndale grad might not have known what to do in that life changing moment, but it's a moment his high school coaches saw coming.
"Everyone who knew him, I think, was pretty sure he'd end up playing at a high level," St. Benedict's former hitting coach and now head baseball coach Ryan Knott said.
"You kind of knew early on that he was going to be special," former head baseball coach at St. Benedict Brandon Patton said.
Culpepper and Patton first crossed paths when he was just nine years old and his older brother Tyler was a freshman for the Eagles.
Patton recalls, the Culpepper's father Ken asking if Kaelen could join in on warmups and promising he would hold his own.
"He probably could have played as a high schooler at nine years old," Patton said. "He's definitely the most talented player that I've ever coached and more than anything he's probably the hardest working player I've ever coached."
According to Patton and Knott, Culpepper would stay for hours after practice at St. Benedict to get in some more practice.
"We would finish up practices 5.30, 6.00 and he was like, 'Hey coach, do you mind if I stay?' He had carte blanch to the place."
"I would be out here hitting him ground balls," Knott said. "My hands would be bleeding, like I had blood everywhere. I didn't tell him because I didn't want to persuade him to ask me from helping out."
That hard work paid off. Culpepper spent three seasons at Kansas State where he hit 26 home runs, had 27 steals and batted .314.
On Sunday Culpepper became the highest ranked draft pick for a positional player out of K State, the third ever MLB draft pick out of St. Benedict, the school's first ever first-round draft pick and Memphis' first first-round draft pick since Brent Rooker in 2017.
"I try to share Kaelen's story all the time about hard work and perseverance," Patton said. "You don't have to be the best player at this age, but if you keep working, who knows where you'll be."